Waiting for the Clouds

Waiting for the Clouds, 2003

Director: Yeşim Ustaoğlu, 92’, 35 mm

Cast: Rüçhan Çalışkur, Rıdvan Yağcı, İsmail Baysan

Set on the misty plateaus of the Black Sea Region Waiting for the Clouds is about a woman who is forced to live for 50 years with the burden of secrets. Ayşe lives in her native land while tragically having to keep her identity a secret. She is a victim of the exile engendered by the war years. As a child she abandoned her brother in the process of exile, now she does not know whether he is dead or alive; after a 50-year inner reckoning the guilt of having abandoned him results in her assuming her true identity. With its minimal cinematography and visual composition Waiting for the Clouds, which draws its power from the beauty and mystery of the Eastern Black Sea coast, looks at the tragedy of humankind imprisoned by history and also at women, through the eyes of, again, a women. The film’s scenario received the Sundance/NHK Filmmakers Award.