AĞRI: A Feature Film by Mert Berdilek
Why are we running this crowdfund campaign?
Ağrı is a unique international Australian-Turkish Feature Narrative Co-Production, the project currently requires development funds to progress to the next stage of financing applications for Australian & Turkish Financing Platforms. In order to be submission ready, we need to raise at least $6000 AUD;
- Working with acclaimed/award-winning Turkish author/screenwriter/producer who will be a Script & Cultural Consultant on the project (Author is already attached to project), enabling the script to be application ready: $3500 AUD
- Shooting Short Film & Teaser for the Feature Film to be application ready for the next stage of film-financing: $2500 AUD
Ağrı is a reverse-migration story on & off the set. The film will mark the first Australian-Turkish Co-Production Feature helmed by an Australian-Turkish Filmmaker.
What is Ağrı about?
Ömer, a middle-aged Turkish migrant from Australia, has been summoned back after 40 years to Ağrı, the desolate snow-covered village of his youth, at the foot of the sacred Mount Ararat. Ömer has returned for the reading of the will of a man he never suspected was his father, whose dying wish was that his two sons, Ömer and Murat, carry his body and bury him at the peak of the sacred mountain. Unable to confront both their pasts and the realization of their newfound brotherhood, Murat and the illegitimate son Ömer, conspire with an unlikely band of unscrupulous local villagers & bureaucrats to thwart their father’s dying wish. When the guilt-ridden Murat goes missing in a blizzard, tensions escalate, and Ömer uncovers generational secrets of family and sacrifice.
Ağrı'nın konusu nedir?
Ağrı Dağı’nın eteklerinde bir köyde kar fırtınası yaklaşmaktadır ve köyün yabancısı olan Ömer, hiç tanımadığı babasının vasiyetinin okunması için köye gelir. Ömer ziyaretinde, varlığından haberdar olmadığı kardeşi Murat’la tanışır. Bir kardeşinin olduğunu ve babasının iki oğlu tarafından Ağrı Dağı’na gömülmeyi vasiyet ettiğini öğrenmesiyle, Ömer’in yolculuğu boyunca geçmişin karanlık sırları ortaya çıkar. Bu zoraki tanışma ve cenaze işleri arasında Murat kaybolur ve cenaze işleri ile Murat’ın aranması Ömer’in üzerine kalır. Gerilim yükseldikçe, Ömer’in tanıştığı her köylü ve memurun kişisel sorun ve istekleri de halihazırda uğraştıkları karmaşık labirente ortak olur. Ömer, geleceğini şekillendirecek olan geçmişiyle ve aile sırlarıyla yüzleşmek durumunda kalır. Ömer, geçmişiyle hesaplaşarak sadece kim olduğuyla ve nereden geldiğiyle değil, kim olması gerektiğiyle de yüzleşmek zorunda kalır.
Sneak Peek of Moodboard:
In the thick of a winter blizzard, the feature film will be set in a village in Eastern Turkey, at the foot of Mount Ararat.
Due to COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed on the crew, the short film will be shot in Melbourne as a chamber drama in 2021.
The texture of Ağrı's exterior architecture, interiors & wardrobe choices will follow the same throughline, that of a decaying nature, as if our protagonist has set foot in a time capsule surrounded by the relics of his heritage, the ghosts of his past.
