A Better Life

Small mountain villages of the Black Sea region are among places, where the consequences of rural depopulation are experienced most profoundly. Years ago, people set off from these poverty-stricken villages, where the struggle for livelihood is hard and traditional production is almost worthless, to migrate towards the glitter of big and foreign cities, pining for “a better life.” Those who stayed became older and lonelier with every passing year. Stock farming and production opportunities that were already limited gradually diminished. The documentary “A Better Life” takes a look at the remainder of migration that has been going on for 60 years through four different human stories, tracing the profound desolation experienced in those remote villages and İstanbul.