Everywhere Ida Mountain

The movie is made from shootings in the Ida Mountain region. The story is composed of a special selection from several short videos recorded by activists in a resistance camp. However, overtly protest elements, slogans and such are excluded from the movie on pupose. Only the daily life and daily activities of the activists are displayed; their possible contribution to ecological ethics and aesthetics is intended to be emphasized. The activists in the movie are a group of people who went to Ida Mountain region, to give support to the resistance against a gold mine project, which was then being carried out by Canadian and Turkish companies.

  • Burcu Gündüz K.
    Director
  • Esra Yurttut
    Dancers
  • Tayfur Çamlıbel
    Dancers
  • Burcu Gündüz K.
    Editor
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    Heryerkazdağları
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    24 minutes 51 seconds
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Burcu Gündüz K.

Burcu Gündüz K. is a video activist. Her main interests are live visual performance with music, projection art and painting. She studied industrial design and graphics design, attended Ulus Baker's lectures on Modern Visual Arts in the late 90s. Her master's thesis is on the similarities between the rave culture of the 1990s-2000s and the carnivals of the middle ages. She organized a video-jockey festival in Istanbul (5 times) in between 2008 and 2012.

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Director Statement

The purpose of making this documentary is to show what kind of environment people live together who stand against the destruction of nature which is a global thing now. I think being able to struggle under those conditions will give strength, support and hope to other people in the world against imperialism and injustice.

The reason for not showing the protests of the activists against the state, the daily mine marches, the huge nakedness of soil where the trees are cut, is to emphasize how we live together, how we create things, as well as the fact that those things has already been shown and emphasized many times. My concern is not to denigrate what the state is doing, but to affirm and glorify the daily state of solidarity. Everywhere is Ida Mountains because; wherever people live, there is resistance, togetherness and relationship.

Life itself is how we live these relationships: on the mountain or in the city, regardless of event or place. In this context, resisting is not doing what we do not want to do, taking care of all living things and standing against violence and injustice. To love everything and everyone as ourselves.
I hope the audience gets emotional. Even if they can't get there, I want them to feel their common humanity responsibility and carry it into their lives.