Documentary movie on Turkish ‘Robinson Granny’ wins awards

A documentary movie about the extraordinary and challenging life story of a senior woman in the Black Sea highlands has been awarded eight prizes in international film festivals in Turkey, the United States, Germany and Italy.

The movie titled "The Unknown Story of Fatma Kayacı" tells the life of an 88-year-old resident, locally known as "Robinson Granny" because she lived alone for 38 years despite the harsh winter conditions in the highlands in Turkey's north.

The movie on the 88-year-old resident of the Black Sea province of Trabzon's Tonya district is directed by filmmakers Nurdan Tekeoğlu and Orhan Tekeoğlu and supported by Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Speaking to Demirören News Agency (DHA), Kayacı said that she was very proud and happy.

A tragic event that took place nearly 40 years ago pushed the old woman into a lonely and isolated life. Kayacı found her poor-healthy 14-year-old nephew's dead body when she returned home from the highlands in 1984.

She was torn down after the death of her nephew, who was buried in a plateau, and she did not want to return to her village after this incident despite the insistence of her relatives. Later, Kayacı made an isolated and deserted plateau her home.

Eventually, the Tekeoğlu couple made a documentary on the life of Kayacı, who has been living alone 2,000 meters above sea level for decades. The 40-minute film was released in 2020 and was staged at various festivals.

In the documentary the couple shot in about a month, Kayacı was in front of the camera and talked about the difficult life and her daily struggle to survive on the plateau.

"The documentary of my life alone in the highlands won an award. I had a cow when the documentary was shot. Now I only...