No Witness but the Mountains

Directed by Kurtuluş Baştimar

The film is set in a small, snow-covered mountain village in Kurdistan. We follow a young woman, Helin, who wants to discover her family history. She lives with her mother, Susika, who has not spoken since her husband was arrested and imprisoned by the Turkish authorities. She cannot write or read either. Helin wants nothing more than to find out the story of her father. It is a story of how political oppression of a people and culture impacts that community, how it silences people, and about human resilience. Keeping a culture alive is a form of resistance.