The director, script writer and producer Önder Şengül and the producer Asim Anyl introduced the Turkish film Wisdom of the Whale participating in the Main Competition of 47th Moscow International Film Festival.
The film is set in a remote village of Muğla where all the men have left to work in mines, leaving the women alone and vulnerable. The only person opposing this situation is Gülsüm, a nomadic outsider. Her unconventional lifestyle and beliefs clash with the village's traditions. As tensions rise, the village chief isolates her, forbidding others from interacting with her. With childbirth imminent, she faces a crucial decision: conform to the system or trust in her own instincts and the natural world.
Önder Şengül: "Throughout the film, our female character embodies nature and the film's name refers to the image of the whale we can find in ancient studies, which symbolizes wisdom. Our female character Gülsüm personifies the whole humanity. I worked as a cinematographer in Istanbul for many years but then I moved to a remote rural area and started living a country life. There, a local told me a story of a woman giving birth to a child in the forest and for me it symbolized the birth of the whole humanity. Then I came up with an idea for my first directorial experience and worked on a script for three years. At that period, I studied the concepts of female and male principles in detail and clearly saw the inequality when the male principle tries to suppress the female one through manipulations and strength. I think that we feel it even in day-to-day life".
Asim Anyl: "This film became a result of not only three years' work but the many years of our friendship with Önder. The main concepts in this film, I believe, are still eternal reflections about morality. I hope that this work will contribute to mankind and humanity and be a source of inspiration for those who are passionate about cinema and truly want to create it".
The film is set in a remote village of Muğla where all the men have left to work in mines, leaving the women alone and vulnerable. The only person opposing this situation is Gülsüm, a nomadic outsider. Her unconventional lifestyle and beliefs clash with the village's traditions. As tensions rise, the village chief isolates her, forbidding others from interacting with her. With childbirth imminent, she faces a crucial decision: conform to the system or trust in her own instincts and the natural world.
Önder Şengül: "Throughout the film, our female character embodies nature and the film's name refers to the image of the whale we can find in ancient studies, which symbolizes wisdom. Our female character Gülsüm personifies the whole humanity. I worked as a cinematographer in Istanbul for many years but then I moved to a remote rural area and started living a country life. There, a local told me a story of a woman giving birth to a child in the forest and for me it symbolized the birth of the whole humanity. Then I came up with an idea for my first directorial experience and worked on a script for three years. At that period, I studied the concepts of female and male principles in detail and clearly saw the inequality when the male principle tries to suppress the female one through manipulations and strength. I think that we feel it even in day-to-day life".
Asim Anyl: "This film became a result of not only three years' work but the many years of our friendship with Önder. The main concepts in this film, I believe, are still eternal reflections about morality. I hope that this work will contribute to mankind and humanity and be a source of inspiration for those who are passionate about cinema and truly want to create it".