17 August 2010
The film about Kurdish story teller Evdalê Zeynikê lands in Ireland
Having received a prestigious award in Sri Lanka, ‘Evdalê Zeynikê’ documentary by Bülent Gündüz is now shown in Ireland after New York International Independent Film Festival. The documentary is about the life of Evdalê Zeynikê who is known as the father of dengbêjs (traditional Kurdish storytellers reciting long epic songs, generally without musical accompaniment). At Sri Lanka Vesak Buddhiste Film Festival between 18-22 June, the documentary competed with films from 13 various countries in feature-length, short-length, documentary and animation branches and was granted the big award. Being praised at New York International Independent Film Festival with a special presentation, Êvdalê Zeynikê documentary of Gündüz has been invited to International Ireland Film Festival.
With cut views from Evdalê Zeynikê's life, the film tells the oral literature and dengbêj tradition, which is about to disappear in Kurdish society. The film also has the characteristic of being first animation Kurdish documentary film. With a team of 15 people, the movie was shot in Van, Doğubayazıt, Iğdır, Ağrı, Toprakkale, Tutak, Hamur, Hınıs, Tekman and Karayazı in places where Evdalê Zeynikê strolls and wanders. The 72 minutes documentary film, which particularly puts woman dengbêjs first, draws attention with many features as documentary technic and content.
The music of the documentary was undertaken by Delil Dilanar. About his documentary film, Director Gündüz speaks as follows; “We are strongly content with taking Mesopotamia’s epical child to the other side of the world. Evdal will sing the best for centuries forbidden kılams (dengbêj poems) to the people in New York; this happiness is beyond description. This festival has once again showed that oral literature and dengbêj tradition are the heartbeats of Kurdish tradition, as well as being the cultural heritage of the world.”
Egîdê Cimo Haydar Gunduz Dengbêj Zahıro yê Muşê, Xeniyê Qereyazîyê, Apê Bekır, Halim Gunduz Hivda Gunduz are featuring in the film, whose Director of Photography is Ercan Ozkan.
Translator: Berna Ozgencil
ANF / NEWS DESK
ANF NEWS AGENCY
