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Aşît

• Director: Pınar Öğrenci
• GERMANY, TÜRKİYE / 2022 / DCP / Colour / 60’ / Kurdish; Turkish, English s.t.

• Screenplay: Pınar Öğrenci
• Director of Photography: Ercan Yılmaz, Pınar Öğrenci
• Editing: Eytan İpeker, Pınar Öğrenci
• Music: Hayrik Mouradian
• Producer: Pınar Öğrenci
• World Sales: Pınar Öğrenci

In Müküs (Bahçesaray in Turkish, Moks in Armenian), a pristine spot in the mountainous region south of Van, heavy snowfall prevents residents from travelling. The thick and dangerous layer of snow covering the mountain peaks recalls the double meaning of the Kurdish word "aşît": avalanche and disaster; the threat of avalanches and the "Great Catastrophe" of 1915, which Armenians remember as "Meds Yeghern". Aşît is inspired by Stefan Zweig’s novel Chess (Schachnovelle, 1941), a psychological thriller in which chess becomes a survival mechanism against fascism. Pınar Öğrenci, the director of the film, uses oral narratives, photo archives, and contemporary footage to reveal the traces and traumas left by the Armenian community in geography, habits, traditions, language, and memories in a remote part of the city of Van where she was born and raised, a symbol city for Armenians. The seeming tranquillity of the icy beauty of the landscape is broken by the unique songs of Armenian exile musician Hayrik Muradyan.

Aşît -The Avalanche was realised within the framework of documenta fifteen, Kassel, 2022

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.