WAITING FOR THE CLOUDS

WAITING FOR THE CLOUDS (BULUTLARI BEKLERKEN), 2004
Turkey, France, Germany, Greece | 35mm, Color, 92' | Turkish
Cast: Rüçhan Çalışkur, Rıdvan Yağcı, İsmail Baysan, Dimitris Kaberidis, Feride Karaman

Waiting for the Clouds is the story of a woman burdened with secrets laid on her by others, and who has been living on the misty flatlands of the Black Sea region for the past 50 years. Ayşe, originally Eleni, is the daughter of a Greek family forced to emigrate from the Black Sea region in 1916. Most family members cannot survive the snow on their road to exile, but Eleni and her little brother Niko make it to Mersin, where a Turkish family adopts the two. The trauma caused by young Eleni’s horrible experience is only slightly alleviated through the loving bond she builds with the adolescent Selma. Eleni tolerates Niko’s leaving but when her beloved Selma is gone, Eleni’s veiled feelings of guilt and internal feud are awakened with the voices brought by the fog and the clouds of the mountains, and the images of those who have been lost.