Directed by Pınar Okan
Rural and agricultural production in Turkey is gradually diminishing; villages are being vacated or getting smaller. And the last generation living in those villages is growing up with small and casual fantasies. The future of these last village children is ambiguous. On the one hand, there are villages, where life is becoming harder and poorer. On the other hand, there are huge, complex cities that are outlandish and scary for children who have never left their villages. Pınar Okan’s documentary ‘A Few Ordinary Days’ presents a few days in the daily lives of four children living in different parts of Anatolia, burdened with their concerns for the future, their dreams and their questions. Okan’s film is a treat to watch, even as it makes us question how rural traditions will survive when families are no longer able to survive economically by engaging in traditional rural livelihoods.
Pınar Okan was born in Ankara and graduated from the Ankara University, Faculty of Communication, Radio-Television and Cinema Department in 2003. She has been working at TRT on documentary projects in 2004, and she is currently a director and producer in the TRT Documentary Programs Department. Her films have been screened at numerous festivals in Turkey and abroad. A Few Ordinary Days received the award for Best Documentary Film at the Boston Turkish Film Festival in 2021 and the International Women Directors’ Film Festival in Izmir in 2022.
