Aether

Hasankeyf, an antique city and archaeological site with over 12,000 years of rich history nestling in the valley of the Tigris River, in the Kurdish part of Turkey, is doomed to disappear beneath an artificial lake, in order to allow for the construction of a hydroelectric dam. With this first feature film showing remarkable beauty and command, Rûken Tekes does not seek to explain the stakes of this future annihilation but creates a space in which the spirit of the place can express itself. A space that transcends time and reveals the natural cycles of creation, destruction and rebirth at the heart of the film. She thus chooses a sensorial and meditative approach, focused on the natural elements—water, earth, air and fire—in order to capture something of a primordial connection with this territory and everything that lives in it, be it a man, a sheep, an ant or a river. A cinematographical gesture which, instead of making the expected inventory of the treasures ready to be swallowed up, seeks to reveal the mysterious and timeless nature of a site unique in the world. (Visions du Réel)