In Flames

The town of Çayırbağı in Trabzon province suffers from frequent fires, but is without a fire truck. When no support is forthcoming from the twin towns declared by the local mayor, he approaches the mayor of Diyarbakır for help when the two meet at an official function. The answer he receives is positive. One of the fire trucks surplus to Diyarbakır’s needs is cleaned up, painted and made ready to be sent to Trabzon. A municipal worker by the name of Kos¸man is delegated to drive the fire truck from Diyarbakır to Trabzon. Koşman, a likeable Black Sea nationalist of around 30, has never met a Kurd in his life, nor ever set foot outside his hometown. Worse still, his thoughts about the south-east of the country are based entirely on hearsay. So the idea of the fire truck coming from Diyarbakır is not to his liking, and he puts his foot down, refusing to go. In the end, however, Koşman is persuaded to set off from Trabzon, and one morning he arrives in Diyarbakır, seeing the city for the first time. Koşman spends the night in Diyarbakır. One of the mayor’s relatives is getting married and Koşman is invited along for a glimpse of local wedding traditions. Here he meets Asya. The following day, Asya, an accountant for the Diyarbakır fire brigade, has to join Koşman on his trip back to Trabzon as a matter of procedure. The two take to the road in the spruced up fire truck, sent on their way by a large crowd. Though strangers at the beginning of the journey, Koşman and Asya slowly begin to warm to each other. An epic trip lies ahead of the two from the land where Asya was born to Kos¸man’s mother’s house in Artvin and Asya’s brother in Rize.
Turkey
'
2011

Director
Murat Saracoglu

Script
Koray Çalışkan
Murat Batgi

Cinematography
Gokhan Atlmis

Editing
Erkan Erdem

Production
Yol Sinema

Cast
Erkan Can
Gaffur Uzuner
Metin Yıldız
Mirgün Cabas
Nesrin Cavadzade
Osman Sonant
Reha Özcan
Serif Sezer
Yavuz Bingol

Music
Erol Mutlu
Işın Kucur
Levent Güneş

Festivals
17th Festival on Wheels
TURKEY 2011