Director: Yilmaz Güney, Zeki Ökten
Screenplay: Yilmaz Güney
Cinematographer: Izzet Akay
Editing : Özdemir Aritan
Music: Zülfü Livaneli
Cast.: Tarik Akan, Melike Demirag, Tuncel Kurtiz, Senel Gökkaya, Levent Yalman
Production: Güney Filmcilik
Distribution:
Films sans Frontières
70 Bd Sebastopol
75003 Paris
Tel: 0033-1.42.77.01.24
Fax: 0033-1.42.77.42.66
Mail: [email protected]
www.films-sans-frontieres.fr
Year: 1978
35 mm, Color, 129 min,
OV Turkish with French subtitles
Hamo, a shepherd in the mountains of Kurdistan, despotically rules his family. His daughter-in-law coming from a rival clan is sterile, and he thinks she bears all the maledictions. Her husband Shivan agrees to help his father Hamo and take the herd -their only wealthto the capital where his wife can get a treatment. But they are dogged by bad luck while leading the herd which gets gradually decimated by thefts, illness and corruption. In the old man’s opinion, the only responsible for all these misfortunes is Berivan. Exhausted, the group
finally reaches Ankara.
At the time of the shooting, Yilmaz Güney had been jailed for the third time. He entrusted Zeki Ökten with the task of making his film by giving him very precise indications about direction, acting, and photography. Beautiful scenes of daily life were shot in Anatolia. The Herd is a major work in the history of Turkish cinema.
