Winner of the Fipresci Prize at the 2021 Berlin Festival, Brother’s Keeper is a compelling drama about hardship and fear. Ferit Karahan draws from his own experiences and turns the boarding school into a microcosm where the surrounding snow mirrors the inner coldness of the teachers.
Yusuf and his best friend Memo are Kurdish pupils at a boarding school secluded in the eastern Anatolian mountains. When Memo falls mysteriously ill, Yusuf is forced to struggle through the bureaucratic obstacles put up by the school’s repressive authorities to try to help him. When the teachers finally understand the seriousness of Memo’s condition and try to get him to the hospital, the school is cut off from the world by a heavy snowfall. With no way out and now desperate to find help, teachers and pupils engage in a blame game where grudges, feelings of guilt and hidden secrets emerge, as time ticks mercilessly on.
Memo (Nurullah Alaca) is forced to take a cold shower as retribution for misbehavior, fifth-grader Yusuf (Samet Yildiz) offers Memo his own towel for extra warmth and care. When Memo wakes up the next morning, he is unable to get out of bed. Yusuf discovers his best friend Memo (Nurullah Alaca) gravely ill and suffering. Yusuf is forced to make himself visible to ensure that Memo is cared for.
Director Ferit Karahan, was born in Muş in 1983. He graduated from Marmara University in 2006. From 2002 – 2006, he worked at various production companies and shot many commercial films, educational films, commercial documentaries and videos. He has also written film reviews in several newspapers and magazines. Karahan shot a feature film Cennetten Kovulmak (The Fall from Heaven) in 2014 and received awards at the 50th Golden Orange Film Festival and the 25th Ankara International Film Festival. He currently continues working as a film director and producer at FK film.