THE HEAVY BURDEN
Barê Giran / Ağır Yük

BEST SHORT FILM AWARD
Boston Turkish Festival's 15th Documentary & Short Film Competition (2020)

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8 short films are included in this session:
8 Poems of Emigration, My Sister, I am Raining Down into the City, I Don't Want To Die Today, Ronaldo, Truth, The Heavy Burden

Directed by YILMAZ ÖZDİL

Short / 2019 / 17 min. / with English subtitles

Cast: Adil Abdurrahman, Saman Mustafa, M. Ali Arpa, Nazmi Kırık

Avdel feeds his family with the salary of the donkey Bozo who works in the sanitation services of the city of Mardin in Turkey. When "old Bozo" is retired by the municipality, Avdel must find a younger donkey to keep his job. To help his uncle, Salih crosses the Syrian border to bring back his own donkey, which he had to leave there when fleeing because of the war. But to accomplish this mission, he must cross the minefields.

Selected Festivals and Awards

• Duhok International Film Festival, Iraq (2019): Special Jury Award
• !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Best Short Film
• Mediterranean Short Film Festival of Tangier, Morocco (2019): Grand Prize
• European Short Film Festival of Nice, France (2019): Best Screenplay
• Festival Gollut, Girona, Spain (2019): Best Short Film
• Izmir International Short Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Best Short Film
• Newcastle International Film Festival, Australia (2019): Best Short Film
• China New Media Short Film Festival (2019): Best Short Drama King Bonn Award
• International Amity Short Film Festival, Turkey (2019): Technical Support Award
• Festival Cinematografico de Mérida, Mexico (2019): Best Actor
• Festival International de Cine de Lebu, Chile (2020): Best International Short Film
• Diamond Film Awards, Italy (2020): Best Narrative Short Film
• Festival Brasil de Cinema International (2020): Best Short Film, Best Supporting Actor
• Festival Construir Cine, Argentina (2020): Best Short Film
• Primavera Film Festival, Barcelona, Spain (2020): Best International Short Film, Best Actor
• OIFF Short Films Festival, Turin, Italy (2020): Best Actor
  

Director YILMAZ ÖZDİL

Yılmaz Özdil (1979, Hakkari) did his master's degree at the Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University on the geopolitical border treatment in Kurdish cinema. In 2013 he defended his PhD dissertation entitled "The Visual Construction of Kurdish Identities in Cinema" at the University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle. From 2003 to 2014, he directed several documentary films and also worked as assistant director in several Kurdish films shot in Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and France, notably with Yılmaz Erdoğan and Hiner Saleem. He is currently working at Mardin Artuklu University as an assistant professor teaching Kurdish cinema and the representation of the Kurds in cinema.