Project Detail

Here to Stay

A group of women sitting in their olive groves.

Synopsis

In a remote village in southeast Turkey, 35-year-old Meryem begins the annual olive harvest. For generations, the groves have sustained the village women's livelihoods, but this year, the harvest takes place under a shadow of fear. Following a devastating earthquake that destroyed Meryem’s home, 60% of the village’s olive lands have been seized by the government to build a new satellite city. As the concrete edge presses steadily toward their remaining fields, this harvest may be their last.
Once a stay-at-home mother, Meryem picks up a camera to document the slow unraveling of her community. Women, previously confined to the home, step into public life - leading protests, sit-ins, and a landmark lawsuit alongside thousands of indigenous landowners, to protect the land they have tended for centuries. Interweaving Meryem’s video diaries with observational footage, the film moves between intimate scenes of the family harvest and the female-led resistance. As the movement unfolds, the once-perfect harvest is gradually disrupted by destruction.
HERE TO STAY tells the story of a people’s fight for justice, tracing how tragedy transforms Meryem from mother to resistance leader, as she seeks to protect the land she calls home.

Details

Year: 2026
Type of project: Shorts
Running time: 29 min 50 sec
Director: Sheida Kiran
Producer: Lucy Draper, Sheida Kiran
Executive Producer: Hannah Bush-Bailey
Editor: Giorgia Zarantonello
Screenwriter: Sheida Kiran
Director of Photography: Andri Haraldsson
Sound: Güldem Masa
Composer: Sheida Kiran
Music Performed and Arranged: Entropies
Performers: Fran Lombardelli, Emilia Pearce and Sophie Sanford
Choir: Rihen Kültür Sanat ve Dayanışma Topluluğu
Music Mixer: Marta Maria Dinozzi
Sound recordist: Özkan Boz
Colourist: Mara Ciorba
Graphics Designer: Jason Gilby
Head of Colour Production: Charlie Morris
Colour Producer: Sarah Banks
Online Editor: Tim Beeston, Tom O’Neill
Story Consultant: Dominique Young
Edit Consultant: Ariadna Fatjo-Vilas

Genre

Climate / Environment Human Rights Woman Director

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Supported by Made of Truth: BFI Doc Society Short Film Fund

Simin Productions

Lucy Draper
15A Ickburgh Road
London
E5 8AF

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