Director Yüksel Yavuz spoke to ANF about his newly shot feature-length film "Hêvî" (Hope). The film which has been produced by Zülfiye Akkulak on behalf of Newa Film will first be screened on 9 January 2014.

Four women who cross one another's path at different times; IHD (Human Rights Associaton) Istanbul former chair Eren Keskin, BDP (Peace and Democracy Party) co-chair Gültan Kışanak, DTK (Democratic Society Congress) co-chair Aysel Tuğluk and Sakine Cansız, one of the founders of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party)...

Each one of them has taken place in the ranks of the Kurdish liberation movement, and of the fight for democracy, women and human rights in Kurdistan and Turkey in 80's, 90's and 2000's, sometimes side to side, sometimes inside and sometimes outside.

In early 80's, Tuğluk visits Cansız and Kışanak while they were being held in the same prison. In 90's, they are advocated by Keskin. In the days of the war in Kurdistan, Cansız is a guerilla commander, Keskin an inexhaustible defender of human rights, Kışanak a journalist of the "dirty war" and Tuğluk a young lawyer for Kurdish prisoners. In 2000's, each one of the four women became the unforgettable faces of the Kurdish politics and the struggle for democracy.

Director Yüksel Yavuz who began his journey to Kurdistan with the "Close Up Kurdistan" film he shot in 2006-2007 has now taken a step forward and adapted the story of the four women into a movie, "Hêvî" (Hope) in very deed seeks an answer to the question "What would be done by the women of a people who have been ignored, denied their existence and subjected to all kinds of repression?".

The story of the four women is at the same time a panorama of the process which began during the most critical days of the hunger strike staged in jails in Turkey and North Kurdistan in the autumn of 2012.

The first part of the film handles lawyer Eren Keskin's attestation and personal experiences during 90's when the war reached its peak and women were subjected to sexual abuse as a war policy, while the second part tells of Gültan Kışanak and Aysel Tuğluk who went on hunger strike in solidarity with prisoners. The third part of the film is on the other hand a journey to the life of Sakine Cansız who, together with Fidan Doğan and Leyla Şaylemez, was executed in French capital Paris on 9 January 2013.

Speaking to ANF about the story of the film, director Yavuz said "I observed that the Kurdish women are standing in the front in all areas. It is an extraordinary case for women to play such a role in the Kurdish territory, and this is what I wanted to put emphasis on".

Director Yavuz says he called the film "Hope" because of the fact that the leading role of women in the Kurdish movement has strengthened the hope for freedom. According to Yavuz, women are a great hope for the Kurdish people now.

Yavuz, who had told about a journey to Kurdistan in his film "Close Up Kurdistan", remarks that "This film is also another journey to Kurdistan. He says both films are parallel and they complete one another.

"Hêvî” which has been shot in Berlin, Paris, Rotterdam, İstanbul, Ankara, Dersim, Diyarbakır and Kandil will first be screened in Germany on 9 January 2014, the anniversary of the execution of Cansız and her comrades. It will later meet the audience in Turkey and Kurdistan and be premiered in Berlin, Hamburg, Köln, Diyarbakır and Istanbul.