In this time of films about migrant populations, few stay at home to direct the gaze at those left behind. Kurdish director, Sami Mermer, returns home to Xalko, a village of 30 houses in Turkey, where all the men have fled overseas to Europe to find work. What they leave behind are wives who manage a livelihood of selling cow’s milk, rearing sheep, sewing blankets and carpets. The heartbreak is also palpable as the women are forgotten when the men start families with foreign wives. When a retired man is shown trying to return home, his wife adamantly refuses him. Is it any wonder when the rare educated village girl refuses marriage? Still, the magic hour sunsets are gorgeous, the weddings that take place just as joyous and the departures a constant refrain. (Philip CHEAH)

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