In the 1990s many people in Kurdistan were taken into custody and interrogated under torture; their killers disposed of the bodies by throwing them out of helicopters, or burying them in acid-filled wells. Thousands were murdered/disappeared by paramilitary forces—such as Jitem and Hizbul-Kontra—that were financed and supported by the state, though they have always stuck to the line: “We didn’t do it.” The documentary looks at the case of seven people, including four children, who were disappeared from the town of Kerboran [Dargeçit] in 1995, and tells the story of their families’ tireless search for their bones
Direction
Altay lets the land speak where words fail.
Cinematography
The well itself becomes a character.
Director
Veysî Altay
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Kerboran was officially renamed Dargeçit in 1973 as part of broader Turkish state erasure of Kurdish toponyms.
Jitem — the paramilitary unit named — was only officially acknowledged by Turkey in 2012, seventeen years after the disappearances.
TR
