Big Man, Little Love

Hejar, a small Kurdish girl who has lost everyone, is left by a relative at a lawyer’s flat. When two people staying there are killed in a police raid, the child takes refuge across the landing, in the home of Rıfat, a retired judge devoted to the principles of the republic. A girl with no Turkish and a man with no Kurdish begin living in the same rooms, and the film neither inflates that nor smooths it over. Handan İpekçi’s film was nominated in five categories at the Golden Orange in 2001 and won all five, best film, best supporting actress, best screenplay and a special jury award for the young Dilan Erçetin among them. After a complaint from the national police directorate, the culture ministry’s supervisory board banned it; five months later a Council of State ruling put it back in cinemas. Şükran Güngör plays Rıfat.