White as Snow / Esra Demirkan

2011.04.02-17
30th İstanbul Film Festival – 2011

White as Snow

In resilient geographies, people designate their routines in accordance with the conditions of nature. Nature shapes the motility and endurance levels of human beings in accordance with its own properties. Moreover, geographical conditions determine the borders of people’s dreams, even the colours that they perceive. Adapted from Sabahattin Ali’s short story called Ayran -from the yoghurt drink-, White as Snow is such a film. Set in the days that follow the coup d’etat of 12 March 1971, the film’s story is set in a small mountain village in the eastern part of the Black Sea region of Turkey, and uses the relationship between the people of this village and this tough climate as a backdrop, while in the foreground we follow little Hasan who sells ayran because he has to take care of his little siblings while his father is in prison and his mother is not at home, working as caretaker. The most conspicuous aspect of the film is its sound design which comprises the intrinsic, man-inflicted or resisting sounds of objects. And sounds of objects that can form plans or sequences, regular or interrupted rhythms…

White as Snow can powerfully convey the themes of abandonment and resistance in Sabahattin Ali’s darkling stories but still grabs on to hope. Anyway, when the teashop owner asks “why would you sell ayran when the weather is so cold,” the reply comes from within the film: “Where there is life, there is hope.”

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