Three friends—Köse Hasan, Pehlivan Ali, and Yusuf—travel to Çukurova's fertile cotton fields in search of work, drifting between a factory, a construction site, and a rice paddy as they struggle to survive under brutal labor conditions. Based on Orhan Kemal's novel drawn from his own experience working in an Adana cotton mill in the 1930s. Note: completed in 1979, the film was banned by the military government following the September 12, 1980 coup, and its negatives were then stolen by unknown persons. The negatives resurfaced decades later, allowing the film to finally premiere in Turkey in 2008—28 years after it was made.
🏆 Voted Best European Film — 1981 Strasbourg Film Festival (director was barred from travel and could not accept the award in person)
