The Distant
( Dûr )

Kazim Oz
2005 - 75 min - Vidéo - Couleur - Turquie

In 1997, the filmmaker returns to his native village to discover that not a single child’s voice is to be heard. Over the last two generations, the village has emptied. The few remaining elderly inhabitants have been abandoned as emigration has set in. They endlessly refer to those who have gone. They still recount the legends of the past and hum its nursery rhymes and songs.
These are the images that the filmmaker takes back to Germany, to the scattered ones, to those who dream of the country they left. The feeling of nostalgia is intense, but at least it is finally being shared. Those in Germany sing along with the songs of a village they see only as an image. The filmmaker can now return to the village. His journey is complete for ties have been re-established.