Quarterly 4 · 2011 - German Films

MESH (WALKING)
Xelilo, a disturbed man, lives in an abandoned store and
walks endlessly through the streets of a Kurdish village in
the south east of Turkey. He is curiously being noticed by
Cengo, a 12-year-old boy, living more or less happily under
poor conditions with his friends and family, selling chewing
gum for a living. Cautiously they become friends and
Cengo leads him to the meeting point under the German
bridge, where the children live through carefree moments.
When the Turkish military takes power in 1980, a curfew is
imposed on the city. The life of Xelilo and the other
Kurds is endangered. Who are the winners and losers in this
conflict?
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Media Luna New Films UG · Ida Martins
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Genre Drama Category Feature Year of Production 2011
Director Shiar Abdi Screenplay Shiar Abdi, Selamo Director
of Photography Ercan Özkan Cast Selamo, Abdullah Ado, Murat
Elmas, Nujiyan Kilgi, M. Salih Kilgi, Tülay Musiki, Felemez Tokay,
Brader Musiki, Ruges Kirici Producer Selamo Production
Companies Sifilm/Bonn, Sel Film/Istanbul, in co-production with
SoundVision/Cologne, Sim Produktion/Diyarbakir Length 90 min
Format 35 mm/DCP/Blu-ray/HDCam, color, cs Original
Version Turkish, Kurdish Subtitled Versions English, French,
German Festivals Istanbul 2011, Busan 2011, Antalya Golden
Orange 2011, Kolkata 2011
Shiar Abdi was born in 1973 in Zamar/Iraq. Raised in Syria, he left
his home at the age of 20 and went to the Netherlands. In 2005 he
moved to Germany to study Film. His shorts have been screened at
numerous international festivals. His films include: the shorts MISTEK
AX (2006), SARA (2007), JAN DEUTSCH (documentary, 2008),
THE SURPRISE (2008) and his feature debut MESH (WALKING),
(2011).
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4 · 2011 32
Scene from MESH (WALKING) (photo © Sel Film & Sifilm)