When Mom is Gone
Zeynep Gulru Kececiler | 2020 | Turkey | 29
‘When Mom is Gone’ is the story of a father and his six children trying to hold on to life. Mohammed is left alone with his six children, the oldest of whom is 11 and the youngest is 2, in the mountain village of Sumara, in the city of Bamyan in Afghanistan. 9-year old Masume has quit school and is trying to be a mother to her siblings. 11-year old Jumahan, the eldest son, is working far away from his family. What has happened to leave Mohammed and his children in this condition? Why is Masume taking care of her siblings? Why is Jumahan working as a shepherd at a distant village away from his siblings? Yes, a father and his six little children in Afghanistan have to struggle hard.
Filmed in 35 days, the documentary demonstrates the micro-scale reflections of the devastation caused by the war in Afghanistan that has been going on for a decade.
UK Premiere
Producer: Zeynep Gulru Kececiler
Director Biography
Zeynep graduated from the Faculty of Communication of Ankara, Department of Radio and Television in 1996. The same year she began to work at TRT (Turkish Radio Television) as Assistant Director at the Directorate of Documentary Programs. In 1998 she studied Master’s Degree at the City University of London on ‘Mass Media Policies in Multi Cultured Societies’. Later she returned to TRT and continued with her work at this establishment. Since 2001 she has been working as producer at TRT. She has produced many documentaries for television and has won several international awards for her documentary ‘The Wrong End Of The Stick’.
