Événement

Film Screening of He bû tune bû/ Once upon a Time by Kazm Öz

Alwan for the Arts and 3rd I NY present:

He bû tune bû/ Once upon a Time by Kazm Öz
Documentary| Turkey |2014 |81 min
In Kurdish and Turkish with English subtitles

Post screening discussion with director Kazm Öz moderated by Negar Taymoorzadeh, PhD Candidate, Cinema Studies, New York University.

Doors Open at 6:30 pm

Synopsis

In Once upon a Time, a large and poor Kurdish family travels from their hometown of Batman to the vicinity of Ankara, the capital city,to grow lettuce as hired hands. A sudden explosion of love will change their story forever. The film is an astonishing work on the story, the struggle, the hard work behind each fruit and vegetable we feast on.

An estimated 1 million people in Turkey work as hired hands in agriculture a form of vast labour exploitation. They work without any insurance whatsoever and are paid extremely low wages. Most of them are Kurdish and underage. It is art against the sharp class struggle that continues to date, against new ways of colonialism and against people alienated from what they produce and consume. Art should continue to be the conscience of humanity. Kazm Öz

About the Artist

Kazm Öz is an award-winning Kurdish director, scriptwriter and producer.Kazm Öz shot his first short film Ax (Land, 1999) which won awards in numerous prominent film festivals. In 2002, he directed his first feature film Fotoraf (2002), followed by Dûr (Distant, 2005); Bahoz (The Storm, 2008); Demsala Dawi: waxan (Last Season, Shawaks, 2010); He Bû Tune Bû (Once Upon A Time, 2014); Beyaz Çnar (The White Sycamore, 2016); and finally Zer (2017).

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Alwan for the Arts is supported, in part, by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council of the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

3rd i NY Film Programming is made possible in part with public funds from the Fund for Creative Communities, supported by New York State Council on the Arts, and the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, both in partnership with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. We thank Alwan for the Arts for hosting our film screenings and to the SINGH Foundation for acting as our fiscal sponsor.