Melody Bard

For centuries, the sound of stones has accompanied highlanders their whole lives: children play with stones, stone is cut from quarries, millstones and mortars are made of stone, dwellings and churches are built of stone, and stone is the stuff statues are made of. Without stone cliffs there would be no echo. Stones serve as musical instruments, weapons, and grave markers. The director shot his poetic, elegantly edited documentary in his birthplace, the historically and architecturally unique village of Oraman Takht in Iranian Kurdistan, where stone remains an important part of everyday life. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)