Sami Mermer

Two trajectories of exile intersect for a short moment somewhere in a simple room, where two men, two strangers, will finally be able to face their own destinies.

A small village in Turkish Anatolia slowly becomes a ghost town as families move abroad, leaving behind a group of dedicated women who keep things running, in this rare document of the hidden consequences of migratio Xalko is Director Sami Mermer’s birthplace, as he returns from his new home in Canada to reconnect with his relatives. Along with the help of Co-director Hind Benchekroun, the film is afforded an intimacy and honesty that doesn’t come easy as the women divulge the details of their private lives and frustrations. They eschew sentimentality for a grounded look at an increasingly unfamiliar way of life.

Istanbul, a crossroads of Europe and Asia, serves as a gateway for migrants from Africa and the Middle East to Europe. Syrian and Iraqi refugees, cosmopolitan youth, disillusioned Arab Spring supporters, and undocumented migrants from Black Africa gather in the city’s callshops, which are vital links to their home countries. The film captures the conversations and emotionally charged moments in these callshops, offering a powerful testament to the migrant experience in the 21st century.

Revolving around an old man who refuses to leave his otherwise evacuated village in Kurdish Turkey, "Ax (The Land)" is a twenty-seven-minute long short film about the forced deportations of Kurdish villages by the Turkish military.