Private Project

Guardians of Anatolia

Guardians of Anatolia follows a Sarıkeçili Yörük family on a long distance seasonal migration through the Taurus Mountains. Through an intimate, immersive lens, the film reveals a way of life shaped by movement, interdependence, and deep connection to land. As external pressures intensify, this ancient rhythm persists—fragile, embodied, and profoundly present.

  • Elif Koyutürk Hazen
    Director
    Bridging the Gap, Shaereh, Peaks of Belonging
  • Elif Koyutürk Hazen
    Cinematographer
    Bridging the Gap, Shaereh, Peaks of Belonging, Good Morning Luise, Details in Nature, Red Bull Hard Enduro (Minas Riders)
  • Liz Cardenas
    Producer
    A Ghost Story (A24), 7 Days, Acidman, Burros
  • Elle Toussi
    Producer
    That Night, Sins, Dollyville
  • Suat Onur Ayas
    Sound Design
    Rise of Empires: Ottoman, When They See Us, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan
  • Özgür Baba
    Composer
    Dertli Dolap ( Anatolian traditional folk performance) Yanmaktan Usanmazam (traditional folk performance)
  • Firat Güler
    Editor
    Direniş: Karatay, Housewife, In Your Dreams
  • Dogus Ozel
    Colorist
    Shahmaran (TV Series, Color Designer / On Set Colorist); Last Summer (Feature Film); Nebraska Live (2025)
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Indigenous, culture, Women, Social Impact
  • Runtime:
    19 minutes 56 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 20, 2026
  • Production Budget:
    30,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Türkiye, United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Türkiye
  • Language:
    Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital (Cinema Camera)
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Mountainfilm Emerging Filmmaker of The Year Award
    Colorado
    United States
    Mountainfilm Emerging Filmmaker of The Year Award
Director Biography - Elif Koyutürk Hazen

Elif Koyutürk Hazen is a Turkish filmmaker working between documentary and poetic cinema. Rooted in immersive field research, her work explores identity, gender, and cultural memory across the ancient landscapes of Anatolia and Mesopotamia. Through observational storytelling, she traces how the past continues to shape the present while bringing forward voices and traditions that have been silenced or forgotten. Her award-winning documentary Bridging the Gap has screened at festivals internationally, and her short Peaks of Belonging received the 5Point STIO Grant. Her latest film Guardians of Anatolia is supported by the Mountainfilm Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship. She is developing The Story of the Lost Goddess, a series examining how systems of power reshaped female authority from prehistory to today.

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Director Statement

Guardians of Anatolia was born from a personal and cultural urgency. As a Turkish filmmaker, I grew up knowing that nomadic life shaped the foundations of Anatolia, yet I also witnessed how quickly this living knowledge has been pushed to the margins. The Sarıkeçili Yörüks are among the last communities in Türkiye who still live fully nomadic lives, moving with their animals across the land as their ancestors have for centuries.

This film focuses on one migration, not as a historical reenactment, but as a living philosophy. I was granted rare access to follow the Sarıkeçili through an entire seasonal journey, observing how memory, survival, and identity are carried through movement rather than written record. Their way of life cannot be separated from the land. It exists only while it is practiced.

Women are at the center of this story. The Sarıkeçili remain a female-led nomadic community, where women hold generational knowledge of movement, labor, and continuity. Their presence shaped both the structure and the gaze of the film. Rather than explaining their lives through narration or analysis, I chose a cinematic language that listens, allowing gestures, landscapes, and rhythms to speak for themselves.

Guardians of Anatolia is a reflection on what is lost when movement is restricted and land is divided, and what remains when traditions are still lived. My intention was to create a work that honors presence over nostalgia, and witnessing over interpretation. A film that walks alongside its subjects, as long as the walking continues.