THE SUITCASE

It is winter in remote Anatolia, the mountainous Kurdish region of Turkey, where elderly matriarch Keke is seriously ill. Her son Ali arrives from Germany to support her, bringing his daughter Hazal with him. For her, this is a journey into unknown territory. Hazal is only 21 and has never taken much interest in her family’s Alevi-Kurdish roots, but she is moved and curious when she learns her grandmother has asked to be buried with an old suitcase. Learning the story of the suitcase, she understands more of her family’s tragedy, of the violence, abuse, and displacement they have suffered at state hands, but also about the true strength, courage, and endurance of this dying woman.