The Storm

For eighteen-year-old Cemal, being accepted to the University of Istanbul is more than just an opportunity to continue his studies, it is his big chance to leave his remote Kurdish village in Southeast Turkey once and for all. Getting off the bus, he is overwhelmed by the grandeur of the big city, but the historic campus is a whole different story. This is the early 90s; radical student activities are at their peak and cops patrol the grounds. Our naive protagonist quietly attends classes and keeps his head down, but soon, Queen Bee Helin will cajole him and two other Kurdish classmates, Orhan and Rojda, into joining her anti-system revolutionary group. This is a precious time for self-discovery. The three friends start questioning the status quo and embracing their cultural identities. They form new friendships, fall in love, read Marx, talk about their dreams and get carried away anticipating the revolution. But all isn’t rosy; conflicts rise within the group and the police encircle them like vultures. Kazim Öz, known for his captivating documentaries of Kurdish life, presents a masterful second feature in the form of an epic that realistically depicts the social uprising and urgency of Turkey’s student movement of the past decade. Hardcore and heart-wrenching, The Storm has already started to gain cult status among young audiences in Turkey. (EY)