The Dead Of Three Villages – dir. Muhammed Kaya

(HONORABLE MENTION)

Original Film Title: The Dead Of Three Villages

Director’s Name: Muhammed Kaya

Writer’s Name: Muhammed Kaya

Producer: Muhammed Kaya

Country of Origin: Türkiye

Country of Filming: Türkiye

Language: Kurdish

Runtime: 16 minutes 28 seconds

Film Description:

In the early 1900s, a 38-year-old man rode through the villages of Diyarbakır on horseback. He fell off his horse and died at a crossroads between three villages. Children who witnessed this immediately informed their elders. Scholars from three religions (a Muslim Kurdish mullah, an Armenian Christian priest, and a Yazidi Kurdish sheikh) began discussing the deceased’s religion in the village square, placing the deceased before them. The mullah, the sheikh, and the priest attempted to interpret the deceased’s death from their own perspective. The mulla attributed the dirty and worn knees to prayer, Sheikh Halit attributed the injury to the sun, and the priest attributed it to his morning prayers to God. The mullah suggested that the man had been circumcised. Taybet Ana, an elderly villager, requested that the deceased be taken to her home to have his circumcision performed there. The deceased was taken to the old woman’s house. The deceased, who was circumcised, was not Christian. The scholars of the three religions left the funeral to perform their religious duties. The mullah goes to perform ablution, but his arm hair is combed back. Noticing this, the mullah tells the religious scholars that the hair is combed back when performing ablution. Based on the mullah’s suggestion, the man is examined. This claim is deemed insufficient. Three religious scholars, having determined that the man was Muslim due to the stone mark on his forehead, send him to wash the body. While washing the body, Gassal turns it over and notices the hammer and sickle tattoo on its back, summoning the religious scholars again. The three religious scholars stare at the tattoo.