Genre: Drama / Running time: 100 min / Languages: Kurdish, Turkish, Swedish, Finnish, English
In association of Yle, with the support of Finnish Film Foundation
Director and screenwriter: Erol Mintaş
Producers: Mete Sasioglu and Erol Mintaş
Co-producer (Finland): Anna Blom/Jamedia Production
Co-producer (Germany): Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer/Elemag Pictures
Synopsis
Earth Song is a film about a family and the secrets that we hide, even from the people closest to us. It’s a story about the search for truth, self-discovery, and forgiveness. The film tells the story of a woman of Kurdish origin as she navigates the complexities of her identity and belonging.
Director's Biography
Erol Mintaş is a filmmaker and doctoral researcher at Aalto University, Department of Film, Television, and Scenography. He completed his graduate studies in computer science and his MA in cinema. He wrote his MA thesis about the cinema of Tarkovsky and existentialism in cinema.
Mintaş’s short film "Snow" won many awards, including the Best Short Film Award at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. His debut feature, “Song of My Mother,” won the Heart of Sarajevo Awards for Best Film and Best Actor at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2014. In total, the film won fourteen different awards around the world.
After relocating himself from Istanbul to Helsinki, Mintaş founded the Academy of Moving People and Images, a film school for mobile/moving people - those who have arrived in Finland for different reasons; be they displaced people, forced immigrants, students, asylum seekers, employees, or those who immigrated for love. The academy was funded by the Kone Foundation (2019-2022).
Earth Song,
Writer & Director View
Background Information
For the past century, displacement and statelessness have been the harsh realities faced by the Kurdish people. In their relentless struggle for their rights, Kurdish people have paid a heavy price, battling against this fate. The Kurdish population has valiantly fought for their rights in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria since the division of their territory during World War I. Artists who employ their craft to contribute to this struggle face severe repercussions from the governments they reside under. Some endure years of imprisonment, sacrificing their youth, or worse, succumbing to illness or deplorable conditions. Others take desperate measures to escape this destiny, risking their lives by traversing war zones and fields to seek refuge in Europe, where they can live in freedom.
On the other hand, numerous untold stories exist, portraying the human experiences that have profoundly influenced the lives and destinies of countless individuals. One such story is that of Nizam and Rojin, as depicted in our film. Nizam, a talented musician and a dedicated partisan, found himself unable to withstand the relentless physical torture inflicted upon him in Turkish prison, ultimately leading to his unwanted betrayal of his closest friends, Rojin’s parents.
For quite some time, I have contemplated sharing a narrative that delves into this shared destiny, albeit from a distinct perspective that shifts away from solely highlighting the Kurdish struggle. Rather, my intention is to focus on individual characters and their day-to-day existence that has evolved within the diaspora.
The Film: Earth Song
With Earth Song, I would like to explore the Kurdish characters in diaspora whose stories have gone untold. Which helps me to delve into the feelings of parenthood and untold truths between family members. I tell the story at a time when ecological disasters are happening and give us the feeling of the “world crumbling down” with the harsh constant wind that is happening in the film, which helps me to ask, “What is the importance of the truth when the world is about to come to an end?”. I would like to convey this feeling to my audience by communicating with them via the same question.
We human beings instinctively long for truth, even one minute before our last breath. As we experience with our character Rojin, who is about to lose her hearing ability while the world crumbles, she still wants to learn the truth or tell the truth with the hope that the truth will make things better, which is not always the case.
This film places a strong emphasis on the actors' performances, requiring a dedicated crew who can understand the intricacies of the characters and the complex emotions within the story. It necessitates a calm and delicate approach, devoid of chaotic rushes, while telling the story and portraying the characters.
Whereas the film remains actor-driven, it also aims to convey multiple layers of meaning through its unique lighting, detailed compositions, and an atmosphere that illuminates the poetry of everyday life. The visual language of the film must be compelling, drawing its power from the actors' emotional performances and the surrounding environment. I aspire to tell the story using special compositions and lighting techniques that offer a fresh perspective on the city of Helsinki.
In my films, I place great importance on the subtle nuances of the narrative. Without any sense of haste, I strive to provide space for the audience to gradually piece together these delicate details and experience the events unfolding before them. I refrain from excessive explanations, trusting in the intelligence of my viewers to discover the story and the world of the characters through the cinematic possibilities presented in the film itself. To me, a film mirrors life itself, where we engage in a conversation with the characters, immerse ourselves in specific locations, and uncover the next steps without a constant stream of information from a director or any external source.
Director & Screenwriter
Erol Mintaş
Actors
Dilan Gwyn: Rojin
Dilan Gwyn was born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden. After highschool she studied French at Sorbonne University in Paris and studied Film at Stockholm University.
In 2008 she began her studies at the performing arts conservatory The American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She went her first year at the Los Angeles campus and later transferred to the New York campus for her second year where she graduated in 2010.
Today she resides in Stockholm but is enjoying an international acting career. Some of her work includes the BBC World Wide Productions series Da Vinci’s Demons, the Swedish box office hit Lyckligare Kan Ingen Vara and the Universal Pictures distributed Dracula Untold. She also starred as Willa in the Freeform show Beyond.
She has also played in popular Swedish TV series Älska Mig and the French-Italian co-produced feature film Sisters In Arms.
Feyyaz Duma: Ferhat
Feyyaz Duman was born in Mardin in 1982. After completing his education at Istanbul Technical University State Conservatory Folk Dance Department, he studied acting in New York. After staying 5 years in New York, he returned to Turkey. He received the best actor awards at Sarajevo Film Festival, Mons International love Film Festival and at the 51st International Golden Orange Film Festival for Song of My Mother directed by Erol Mintas. Feyyaz Duman, who appeared on television screens for the first time with the TV series “İçerde” in 2016, has now played the character of “Arif” for 3 seasons in the Women's series published on Fox. Nowadays, he plays the character of 'Nazım' as the leading role in the 'Dam' directory published on Fox Tv.
Production company
Sons of Lumière
Sons of Lumière is a Helsinki-based production company that produces fiction and documentary films and series. The company focuses especially on telling stories of the underrepresented, working with new voices with the hope of contributing to realisation of the diversity and inclusion in cinema and television.
The company’s latest productions include; ÁFRUVVÁ - an immersive film from acclaimed Sámi filmmaker Marja Helander that had its premiere at Venice Biennale; BLUE NOTE - a fiction short film by Pavel Andonov that is nominated for ‘Best Short Film’ at the Jussi Awards (Finland's premier film industry awards) and REBELS, a documentary series about young climate activists in Extinction Rebellion, directed by Juho Reinikainen and distributed by the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE.
The company’s development slate includes ARROGANCE (a drama comedy based on Ossi Nyman's novel, directed and written by Ville Jankeri and selected for the Torino Film Lab's Script Lab in 2022) and EARTH SONG (drama written and directed by Erol Mintaş, a recipient of production support from Finnish Film Foundation and the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE).
Co-producers
Elemag Pictures
Elemag Pictures is a Gera/Thuringia/Germany based film production company focusing on developing, co-producing & producing high-quality international films with a very high artistic quality and remarkable human stories of originality, capable of engaging audiences around the globe. Elemag Pictures' managing director Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer has represented Germany as European Producer on the Move in 2020 and is a network-member of EAVE, EWA, Produzentenverband, AG Dok, DAE and the German and European Filmacademy. Elemag Pictures has experience with international co-productions with various countries, both as a major and minor partner, taking on various roles, including shooting responsibility for historical feature films, such as Les Magnetiques.
Jamedia Production
Jamedia Production is a Helsinki-based production company founded by Anna Blom in 2003. The company produces documentary and fiction films and tv-series. Jamedia is strongly connected to the Swedish speaking minority in Finland and in its identity is a strong urge to tell stories from human destinies in the margins. The company's most recent productions are the series of five short films LONGING, where Mete Sasioglu from Sons of Lumière was an associate producer, and the documentary YVONNE 30 min. The company's development slate include THE BOY WHO COULDN'T WALK, a feature film based on the real life of handicapped actor Ragnar Bengström (develoment funded by Konstsamfundet, LOC from YLE), tv-series TRUE NORTH, a drama-thriller set against the back-drop of a refugee crisis on the Mediterranean, which has received development funding from Creative Media Europe, the Finnish Film Foundation and Konstsamfundet and EARTH SONG (drama written and directed by Erol Mintas).