The Lamb

As Eastern Anatolian village tradition requires, 27-year-old Medine must serve oven-roasted lamb at her five-yearold son Mert’s circumcision feast. Poor but determined, Medine puts the family to work cutting branches to earn something towards the price of the lamb they need. Ismail, Medine’s unemployed husband, is worried by his wife’s assertive behavior. Envious of the attention Mert gets, his elder sister Vicdan makes Mert believe that if a lamb is not found, he will be slaughtered instead. A singer-prostitute arrives in town. The village leader finds Ismail a job in the slaughterhouse. Friends there lead Ismail astray, and his weakness makes it even harder to buy the lamb. Medine persists. With his own reasons for wanting an animal to be procured, Mert’s determination rivals that of his mother. Refusing even the grandmother’s support, Medine receives help and solidarity from an unlikely source.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Script: Kutlug Ataman

Cinematography: Feza Caldiran

Editing: Ali Aga

Sound: Sonat Hancer

Actors: Mert Tastan (Mert), Sila Lara Canturk (Vicdan), Nesrin Cavadzade (Medine), Cahit Gok (Ismail)

Production: The Institute for the Readjustment of Clocks, Turkey

Producers: Kutlug Ataman, Fabian Gasmia, Henning Kamm

Co-production: DETAiLFILM, Germany

Production Design: Esra Cetinkanat

Format: DCP Color

Production Country: Turkey-Germany

Production Year: 2014

Duration: 87

Contact: DETAiLFILM, GermanyFabian Gasmia / Henning KammT. +49 151 23 000 204 / +49 163 870 3953info@detailfim.dewww.detailfim.de

Awards
Art Cinema CICAE Art Cinema Award, Berlin IFF 2014, Germany

Kutlug Ataman

He graduated from UCLA with an MFA in 1988. He established himself as a filmmaker in 1994, with his first feature film, Serpent’s Tale, which received, among other distinctions, the Best Film, Director and Screenplay Awards from the Turkish Film Critics Association at the Istanbul IFF, and the Jury Prize at the Ankara IFF. Ataman’s second feature, Lola+Bilidikid (1998), was selected to open the Panorama section of the 49th Berlinale. Besides his career as a film director, he is also an accomplished artist. He was nominated for the 2004 Turner Prize, won the Carnegie Prize in the same year and the Abraaj Capital Art Prize in 2009.