Xalko

This documentary tells the story of Xalko, the native town of the co-director Sami Mermer, one of the very few Kurdish villages in the heart of Turkey's Central Anatolia. Deserted by its men who have gone to Europe or America, Xalko still survives to this day thanks to those who keep the fort: mothers and children who do what it takes to keep it alive while they wait and hope for the return of their husbands, their absent fathers who too often do not come back. This documentary follows the ongoing daily life of Xalko and questions its future, threatened by a continuing exodus and by desertification. Ultimately, Xalko takes a look at migration from the unexpected point of view of those left behind.