Yılmaz Özdil
Directing
Biography
Yılmaz Özdil is a film director born in Hakkari (1979). He did his master's degree at the Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne University on the geopolitical border treatment in Kurdish cinema. In 2013 he defended his Ph.D. dissertation entitled "The Visual Construction of Kurdish Identities in Cinema" at the University Paris 3 Sorbonne Nouvelle. From 2004 to 2016, he directed several documentary films and also worked as assistant director in several Kurdish films shot in Turkey, Iraqi Kurdistan and France. His short film "The Heavy Burden" was screened at more then 100 festivals around the globe and picked up many awards. He is currently working at Mardin Artuklu University as an assistant professor.
Known For
Baran, a war hero, becomes sheriff of the capital and refuses to bow down to a tribal chief.
My Sweet Pepper Land
In Paris' cosmopolitan and colorful 10th arrondissement, Philippe, who's fresh out of prison, crosses paths with Avdal, a Kurd who is trying to track down an Iraqi war criminal. Avdal, who dreams of staying in France, plans to bring his fiancee Siba to Paris. She's due to arrive in the next few days. The two men strike up a friendship and when Avdal dies suddenly and unexpectedly, Philippe finds himself left to organize the funeral arrangements. What should he do with the body? Siba arrives in Paris, and soon learns that Avdal has died. She is taken in by a group of Kurdish men and before long she also meets Philippe - all of whom are quite smitten by her beauty. Meanwhile, Avdal's father Cheto, a devout Muslim, comes to Paris to grieve for his son. He intends to force Siba to return to her homeland, but the young woman has now had a taste of freedom.
If You Die, I'll Kill You
Eylem is a young woman. She lives in a small Kurdish town and works at a rug workshop. She thinks her nose is too large, and dreams of having cosmetic surgery. However, one of her brothers has joined the political organization, and many others from the same town have died in clashes. Will Eylem manage to find a way out of this challenging dilemma?
Ugly Ducking
AVDEL feeds his family with the salary of his old donkey, BOZO, who works in the waste department of the city of Mardin in Turkey. It is also home to his nephew, SALIH, who fled Syria because of the war. After BOZO’s “retirement”, Avdel must find a younger ass to continue to earn his salary. So traumatized by the war Salih returns to Syria to recover his.
The Heavy Burden
Ziko is a young obsessed sleepwalker who has just been banished from his village for a serious crime. When this decision is announced to the neighboring villages, to reach the city, in the middle of winter he has to cross villages which await him with hatred, ignoring all this the deaf-mute LALO must also cross the same villages the same day.