Semih Kaplano?lu | Turkey | 2008 | 102' | Turkish spoken, Dutch subtitles
Yusuf is a teenager who lives with his widowed mother, Zehra, on a dairy farm in Anatolia. Yusuf loves poetry and wants to be a writer, but he's not a good student and hasn't been able to pass his college entrance exams, while hard times on the farm make it difficult for the family to make ends meet. While Yusuf and Zehra have always had a close relationship, he feels a sense of betrayal when he discovers that his mother has become involved with the man who runs the local railway station. As Yusuf looks after the farm and begins publishing his work in small magazines, his life takes a new turn when he's drafted into the military; when he leaves town to be inducted, he meets Semra, a young woman his age who shares his love for poetry and his sensitive nature.
Will young Yusuf be able to handle the changes in his peaceful existence? Can he survive on poetry and working alongside his mother in her small-time milk business? Or will he be forced to move to the big city or seek a job in one of the many factories threatening the unspoiled landscape?
Friday 20 August, 07.15 PM, Rialto
