Min Dit: The Children of Diyarbakir on AllMovie

The political turmoil of life in Kurdish Turkey is reflected in this drama of kids caught in the crossfire. Gulistan (Senay Orak) and Firat (Muhammed Al) are two children living in the Turkish city of Diyarbakir with their parents and their baby brother. Gulistan and Firat are living an ordinary and contented life until the family is ambushed by three men who kill their father, a reporter, as well as their mother. With their parents dead, Gulistan and Firat's aunt Yekbun (Berivan Eminoglu) steps forward to help the children, but her background as a Kurdish activist attracts the attention of the police, and when she tries to arrange for them to travel to Sweden to be with their grandfather, she's captured by military authorities. Left to fend for themselves, Gulistan and Firat begin selling their parents' belongings to support themselves, but when they get behind on the rent and can't pay for the baby's medicine, they're left homeless. The children are befriended by Zelal (Suzan Ilir), a streetwise kid who has learned survival the hard way, and Dilara (Berivan Ayaz), a streetwalker with a soft spot for children, but Gulistan and Firat's precarious circumstances become all the more dangerous when they cross paths with one of the men who killed their parents. Min Dit (aka The Children of Diyarbakir) was the first feature film from filmmaker Miraz Bezar; it received its North American premiere at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.