The Film

Kuma means 'second wife' in Turkish. The film gives us a look inside the traditions of a Kurdish family living in Vienna, through its two main characters: young Ayse, brought up in a small town in the mountains of Turkey, and an older women, Fatma, who heads a large family in a mostly immigrant neighborhood in the city of Vienna. The film starts out with Ayse’s wedding celebration in the town where she lives, where everyone believes she has married the young and handsome Hasan. However, we eventually find out the truth: Ayse leaves Turkey to become the second wife of Mustafa, Hasan’s father. When she reaches her new home in Vienna, some of her husband’s older children turn their back on her, but Fatma, Mustafa’s first wife, takes her in as a worthy successor who will take care of the family when she is no longer around. The two women begin a very special friendship based on complete trust, but the relationship will be questioned when the family has to deal with a difficult twist of fate. Umut Dag, the eldest son of a Kurdish family living in Vienna, studied Film Direction at the Vienna Cinema School, under the tutelage of Michael Haneke (Amour, The White Ribbon). He began directing short-subject movies and feature films until Kuma, his first fictional feature film, written by Petra Ladinigg but based on an original idea by the filmmaker himself. Kuma stands out due to the performances by its two starring actresses, and its profound analysis of the personal relations and emotions of the different members of an immigrant family which is fighting to hold onto the traditions from their country of origin in a distant society.