A woman tries to give a pair of shoes to her husband, who is in prison. The story takes place in Diyarbakır, Turkey in 1984 after the military coup in 1980, where the only language allowed to be spoken in prison is Turkish. The film won “Palme D’or” for short film in Cannes Film Festival 2012.
Acting
Belçim Bilgin's face carries an entire forbidden language.
Direction
Yesilbas makes silence louder than any dialogue could be.
Production
Diyarbakır's dusty roads become a character of political weight.
Director
L. Rezan Yesilbas
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 1980 coup banned Kurdish language in Turkey; this film resurrects that erasure through cinematic silence. Yesilbas, of Kurdish heritage, made this as deliberate political testimony.
The Palme d'Or win made Yesilbas the first Turkish woman to receive Cannes' top short film honor. She shot it in summer heat with minimal crew, no permits.
TR
