Private Project

BÎR (WELL)

BÎR (Well) SYNOPSIS

In the 1990s many people in Kurdistan were taken into custody and interrogated under torture; their killers disposed of the bodies by throwing them out of helicopters, or burying them in acid-filled wells. Thousands were murdered/disappeared by paramilitary forces—such as Jitem and Hizbul-Kontra—that were financed and supported by the state, though they have always stuck to the line: “We didn’t do it.” The documentary ‘BÎR’ looks at the case of seven people, including four children, who were disappeared from the town of Kerboran [Dargeçit] in 1995, and tells the story of their families’ tireless search for their bones.

  • Veysi Altay
    Director
  • Veysi Altay
    Writer
  • mezopotamya sinema
    Producer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    kurdish
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 3 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 1, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Turkey
  • Language:
    Kurdish
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 6 ° FICLAPAZ – LA PAZ INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, BOLIVIA
    la pazz
    Bolivia, Plurinational State of
    May 16, 2018
    AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: WELL
  • lake city
    lake city
    India
    Best Story award
  • Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli
    napoli
    Italy
    January 25, 2019
    AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: WELL
  • Festival del Cinema dei Diritti Umani di Napoli
    napoli
    Italy
    December 16, 2018
    Il Premio Giuria Popolare è andato a
  • KOBANE İNTERNATONIAL FİLM FESTIVAL
    kobanê
    Syrian Arab Republic
    November 27, 2018
    AUDIENCE AWARD FOR FEATURE DOC
  • Tryon International Film Festival
    Tryon, North Carolina
    United States
    October 9, 2018
    DOCUMANTERY SPECIAL AWARD JURY
  • au-cinema-pour-les-droits-humains.fr
    paris
    France
    April 10, 2019
    MENTION SPÉCIALE
    human rights
  • Best awards documentary babel film festival
    Cagliari
    Italy
    December 4, 2019
    Prèmiu Unica – Tzitade de Casteddu | Premio Unica Città di Cagliari
  • Fabrique Du Cinéma Awards BÎR (WELL) ROMA
    roma
    Italy
    December 14, 2019
    europa
    best awards documentary
  • Roma
    Italy
    December 14, 2019
    europa
    best awards documentary
Director Biography - Veysi Altay

Veysi Altay has been involved in photography and cinema 20 years. He worked for many years as an administrator for Amnesty International for 6 years and for the Human Rights Association (İHD) and also reported from the war in Rojava (Western Kurdistan) during the battles against ISIS in Serêkaniyê/Ras al-Ayn (2013) and Kobanê (2014). He combines his media and documentary work with Turkish-Kurdish translation and interpreting. Altay has carried out archival research on subjects such as mines, the lynch culture, nationalism, seasonal workers and political disappearances and has produced a book of photography, published in three languages, entitled Em Ên Wenda (We, the Disappeared), featuring 100 photos and 100 stories of people who were disappeared by the state. He is also the director of a number of documentary films:

- Faîlî Dewlet (The State is the Perpetrator), telling the story of those killed by the Turkish government in the region of Cizre between 1990-1995

- Jiyanên Bêdeng (Silent Lives), looking at the victims of mines laid in Kurdistan by the Turkish state

- Berxwedana 33 Salan-Dayika Berfo (33 Years of Resistance - Dayika Berfo), following 105-year-old Mother Berfo's quest for the truth about what happened to her son who disappeared in police custody following the military coup of 12 September 1980

- Nûjîn (New Life), a behind-the-scenes account of the Kurdish resistance in Kobanê in 2014

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