Die Wächter des Ararat

(The Guards of Mount Ararat)
by Martin Thoma
44’, Digital Betacam, Germany, 2007

He dreams of the sacred mountain, the site where, according to legend, Noah’s ark reached land. Erhan, age twelve, wants to become an alpine guide on Mount Ararat, like his famous uncle. Through his story, and the challenge of climbing the 5165 meters of this celebrated mountain in Anatolia, Turkey, we discover the customs and lifestyle of the nomadic Kurds known as “the guardians of Ararat”.

Martin Thoma
Born in 1960, he studied art, foreign languages and philology in Germany and England. Since 1986 he has worked as a freelance journalist for several eminent German television stations, and has directed more than 40 documentaries. He lives in Istanbul and Stuttgart where he works as a writer, director and producer.