Okul Tıraşı I Brother’s Keeper

High up in the mountains, more than 2000 metres above sea level, lies a Turkish boarding school for Kurdish pupils. Under military drill, the pupils are educated to become “valuable citizens for country and nation”. When the school is snowed in and cut off from the outside world, Yusuf tries to find help for his sick friend Mehmet. As he does so, the question of who is responsible for Mehmet's critical condition arises more and more. Director Ferit Karahan uses the self-contained parallel world of the boarding school as a mirror of a country marked by militarism, masculine harshness and a disregard for the Kurdish minority.

Born in Muş, Turkey in 1983, Ferit Karahan first worked as an assistant director before beginning to make his own short films. His debut feature, The Fall from Heaven, won Best Film at the Antalya Film Festival and Best First Film at the Ankara International Film Festival. Okul Tıraşı is his second feature film.