Halfeti : Land of Hope and Misfortune



Original Tittle : HALFETİ Suya Dönüşen Topraklar
Tittle in English : HALFETI Land of Hopu and Misfortune
Episode : 3
Duration Episode I : 43'46"
Episode II : 45'
Episode III : 55'19"
Date of Production : 1998-2001

Halfeti, is the town in the Şanliurfa Province near Euphrates River in the Southeastern Turkey.

In the year 2000, it will be affected by the Birecik Dam Reservoir together with 44 villages settled on the two sides of the river. Some of these villages will completely or partially be flooded. 28 thousand people will be affected by the Dam.

The project which is implemented on public participatory basis, also aims to facilitate the social, economic and cultural adaptation of the people into their new lives.

The documentary aims to record the changes in the lives of certain people chosen from the area till 2001, the year the Dam Lake will be completed. And also record the changing of the sight of the Dam Area which is known as Upper Mesopotamia historically. This record will give us a chance to follow the changes of nature too.

Source - Kerime SENYUCEL



Director - Kerime SENYÜCEL
Script - Filiz DOĞANAY / Kerime SENYÜCEL
Adviser - Filiz DOĞANAY / Gap İdaresi / Köy Hizmetleri Genel Müdürlüğü / Enerji Bakanlığı Uzmanları
Music - Yeni Türkü / Derya KÖROĞLU
Sound - Mehmet EGE

Directory of Photography - Yavuz TÜRKERİ - 2000 / Haldun ÖZKANLI - 1999 / Sarper HOKNA - 1998
Sound - Atilla ARSLAN - 2000 / Orhan TAMER - 1999 / Atilla ARSLAN - 1998
Photograph - Ali Ahıskalı, Hüseyin Öğretmen, Murat Zileli, Süleyman Yurdakul


Synopsis

A documentary about the change took place in the lives of people on the banks of the Euphrates River during the construction of Birecik Dam. The Euphrates River has its source in the Eastern Anatolia Region and enters Halfeti by passing through a deep valley. The Euphrates River culture was created and lived here for thousands of years.

Halfeti is the name of the town in the Şanlıurfa Province in the Southeastern Turkey. It is situated near Euphrates River. In the year 2000, it was affected by the Birecik Dam Reservoir together with 45 villages settled on the two sides of the river. Some of these villages were completely and some of them were partially flooded by the water of the Dam. 30 thousand people were affected.

The documentary records the changes in the lives of certain people chosen from the area. And also records the changing of the Dam Area which is known historically as Upper Mesopotamia. It tells us what happened to the people, we followed during the 4 years before inundation.

Source - http://rc2249.ce.uiuc.edu/tsa/halfeti.htm