Die Wächter des Ararat (2006)

He dreams of the summit of the biblical mountain. The place where, according to legend, Noah's Ark stranded. Little Erhan Ceven once wants to take over his uncle's job as a mountain guide at Ararat. Whether the 12-year-old nomadic boy is up to the task depends on whether he manages the 5165 metres to the summit this year. From his perspective, the film tells the story of a mountain adventure that has cost the lives of more than 100 people to date. Erhan belongs to the Jelali tribe. For centuries the Kurdish nomads have been wandering with their sheep on the slopes of the biblical mountain along the borders to Armenia and Iran. The Turks call them the "Guardians of Ararat". Western expedition troops hired them for decades as porters and leaders in search of Noah's Ark. Among them Jim Irving, the "Moonwalker" and Apollo 15 astronaut. The ark legend brought jobs, bread for Erhan's whole clan. Then the civil war broke out. Kurdish guerrilla fighters of the PKK used the Ararat as a retreat. The Turkish military declared it a restricted zone. The mountain has only been accessible again since 2001. Even today mountaineers need a special permit from the military and the authorities in the capital Ankara. Only occasionally do they dare to climb the biblical mountain again. The nomads in particular are suffering as a result. Now they hope that things will get better again to give little Erhan and the other children a perspective on Ararat.