Home>News>"On the Way to School" premieres at the Joris Ivens (IDFA) competition
"On the Way to School" premieres at the Joris Ivens (IDFA) competition
"On the Way to School" participated in the first Greenhouse round. During the first Greenhouse pitching forum, the filmmakers received a $5000 development grant for the best project from Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Documentary Fund and a pre-buy agreement from Sinai Abt, the director of the Israeli Channel 8.
In addition, the prominent Dutch producer Pieter Van Huystee joined the project as co-producer and managed to conclude a pre-buy agreement with IKON, a Dutch broadcaster.
These important supports enabled the filmmakers Orhan Eskikoy & Ozgur Dogan to continue the production.
In the following year, the filmmakers received two more prestigious grants, a production grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund and a post production grant from the Jan Vrijman Fund (IDFA) which enabled the filmmakers to complete the film.
During the 2008 IDFA International Film Festival, Greenhouse hosted an event to honor the great achievements of its first year graduates.
"On the Way to School" team
"On the Way to School" bus at the entrance of the TuschinskiTheater where the film was screened.
Theatrical release for "On the Way to School" by prestigious "Fortissimo Film" distribution
Greenhouse is very proud to announce that the creators of "On the Way to School" Orhan Eskikoy & Ozgur Dogan and co-producer Pieter Van Huystee have signed a distribution agreement for television and theatrical release with the prestigious distribution company Fortissimo Film.
Fortissimo Film Sales is an international film, television and video sales organization specializing in the production, presentation, promotion and distribution of unique, award winning and innovative feature films from independent film makers from all over the world.
On the Way to School - Synopsis
The young Turkish teacher Emre Aydin has been appointed by the government to go teach at a school in a remote and impoverished Kurdish village. He arrives in the village at the beginning of the school year to a few unpleasant surprises. There's no running water in the village and the students don't show up for class. On the Way to School follows Aydin during the entire academic year. The camera observes him and his students in a fly-on-the-wall kind of way. The majority of the documentary takes place in the classroom, where we see how tough an assignment it is for Aydin to teach here. Many families only speak Kurdish at home, so learning Turkish isn't only hard for the kids, but it's also a sensitive matter as far as the strained relations between Kurds and the Turkish state are concerned. Aydin feels like a foreigner in his own country, but he's determined to accomplish the task at hand. For the most part, he's a friendly and patient instructor, but when students write Kurdish words in their notebooks, he loses his cool and kicks them all out of class. He proceeds to grab his cell phone and call home, where his mother lovingly gives him her ear.
