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ARCHIVE

7th(2005)



Life on Their Shoulders / Sirtlarindaki Hayat

Yesim Ustaoglu

  • Turkey
  • 2001
  • 29min
  • Beta
  • color

SYNOPSIS

This film tells the story of the women of the high plains of Komato in northern Turkey. Every rainy season, the people of the village migrate to the plateau to breed livestock for the summer. Women bear the burden of the move. Men never share the burden. All the supplies for the summer are loaded on the backs of women, who then must climb up 3500-meters up narrow, slippery paths to the top of a steep, rocky mountain shrouded in thick clouds and fog. By focusing on the line of women snaking up the slope -- each bearing food, firewood and even the poles and clay necessary to build houses for the summer -- the film creates an honest metaphor for the burdens that women carry throughout their entire lives. A young woman face the camera, smiles, and sings; ¡°The burden is on the shoulders of women, that¡¯s why I don¡¯t like it here...¡± (Nam In-young)

PROGRAM NOTE

This film tells the story of the women of the high plains of Komato in northern Turkey. Every rainy season, the people of the village migrate to the plateau to breed livestock for the summer. Women bear the burden of the move. Men never share the burden. All the supplies for the summer are loaded on the backs of women, who then must climb up 3500-meters up narrow, slippery paths to the top of a steep, rocky mountain shrouded in thick clouds and fog. By focusing on the line of women snaking up the slope -- each bearing food, firewood and even the poles and clay necessary to build houses for the summer -- the film creates an honest metaphor for the burdens that women carry throughout their entire lives. A young woman face the camera, smiles, and sings; ¡°The burden is on the shoulders of women, that¡¯s why I don¡¯t like it here...¡± (Nam In-young)

Director

  • Yesim UstaogluYesim Ustaoglu

    Yesim Ustaoglu was born in 1960 in Kars. After studying architecture at Karadeniz Technical University, she received her master¡¯s degree at Yildiz University in Istanbul in 1985, specializing in restoration. After making several award-winning shorts, she made her feature film debut with The Trace (1994). She received international recognition for her following feature film, Journey to the Sun (1999), which was screened at the Berlin Film Festival and received the Blue Angel (Best European Film) and the Peace Prize. She shot Life on Their Shoulders during the development and research period of Waiting for the Clouds (2004).

Credit

  • ProducerBehrooz Hashemian
  • Cinematography Gurcan Kelter
  • Editor Thomas Balkenhol, Yesim Ustaoglu, Emmanuelle Mimra
  • Sound Nicolas Dambroise