HARVEST OF LIGHT
Işığın Hasadı
SPECIAL MENTION
BTF's 19th Documentary & Short Film Competition
APRIL 4 - 15, 2025
Directed by Esin Özalp Öztürk
Doc. / 52 min. / 2024 / with English subtitles
The capital city of Ankara’s Evren district is home to a community of seasonal workers. The workers, who come to Evren with their families to harvest onions, are trying to cope with various difficulties while holding on to life. The documentary is centered around the generator, used as a symbolic beacon of hope in the film, and operates for only two hours a day. In this short time, the workers tell their stories amidst the chaos of labor, perseverance, and the struggle to catch up with life. Alternating between light and darkness, these people forget their troubles with the light emitted by electricity, escape their daily lives, and enter a completely different world. As the documentary progresses, it crosses the boundaries of time and delves deeper into the workers' lives. Their never-ending hopes illuminate their search for a better life for themselves and their families. Through intimate interviews and captivating visuals, "Harvest of Light" interweaves the stories of seasonal workers to create a portrait of their dreams, aspirations, and daily struggles. The documentary seeks to raise awareness of workers' rights, child labor, women's empowerment, and the universal right to education. Focusing on the lives of onion harvest workers in Evren, this documentary exposes a broader global issue; the vulnerability of seasonal workers worldwide. The documentary invites viewers to reflect on their consumption habits and reminds us of our responsibility as a society. Through its compelling storytelling and visuals, the documentary encourages viewers to question the deeper consequences of their actions and reflect on what they can do for a more just and equitable society.
Selected Festivals and Awards
- Boston Turkish Festival’s 19th Annual Documentary & Short Film Competition (2024): Special Mention
- Sweden Film Awards (2024): Best Woman Filmmaker, Best Feature Documentary
- Eastern Europe Film Festival, Romania (2024): Best Cinematography
- Rolling Ideas, Romania (2024): Best Documentary for Medium Length
- Accolade Global Film Competition, USA (2024): Awards of Merit: Documentary Short, Liberation/Social Justice/Protest
- USA Film Festival International Short Film & Video Competition (2024): Finalist
- Cannes Film Awards, France (2024): Finalist
Director ESİN ÖZALP ÖZTÜRK
Şirin Bahar Demirel is a filmmaker and visual artist, working with moving image, collage, and photography. Her works explore home, mis/displacement, and workings of memory in its broadest sense, through their relationships with objects and places, highlighting the underlying gender roles. She tells personal stories rooted in social realities with a playful approach, and experiments with the dialogue between archival & found images and her own creations. Demirel studied cinema at Galatasaray University in Istanbul and Artistic Direction of Cultural Projects at Paul Valéry University in France. Film festivals and group exhibitions that she participated in include IDFA, Kassel Dokfest, Ars Electronica, Transmediale, Sharjah Film Platform, and Istanbul Museum of Modern Art screenings. |
