Using arts and storytelling

as a tool for social change

“Helesa is a tradition, which was established hundreds of years ago. A sailor crashed onto the shores of a small coastal town. After running out of food to eat, the sailor and his men decided to carry the boat through the streets of the town and sing a chant while asking for donations. Today, this is known as the Helesa song.  “
HELESA
short documentary: culture & tradition
16 min
color
August 2012
director Yilmaz Vurucu
story teller Vural Etyemez
produced by Bahanur Nasya
Helesa is 16min documentary about a beautiful tradition, established to help receive aid from the local fishing community in Sinop/TR some centuries ago. Over time, the custom grew into a street festival. Fishermen, as well as the locals, would fill the streets, travel from apartment to apartment, from one small shop to another, chanting the Helesa song. The donations made would be used for a good cause.  For one night during the month of Ramadhan, the whole town would unite for a good cause. This beautiful event of the year, is increasingly under threat. Many youngsters even don’t know the lyrics of the song, so participation is decreasing.
We produced this documentary, in order to underline the importance of such fairytale like stories for local identity. We hope, it attracts attention and the tradition is carried in to the future.
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SCREENING
December 1st – 5th, 2012
Saturday, 1st December 2012
21:00
Sinop Halk Egitim Merkezi – ASO Müdürlügü
Sinop/TR
Monday, 3rd December 2012

21:00
Ayancik AKM
Ayancik/TR
Tuesday, 4th December 2012

21:00
Gerze Kültür Merkezi
Gerze/TR
Wednesday, 5th December 2012

21:00
Erfelek Belediye Sinema ve Kültür Salonu
Erfelek/TR
http://www.sinopfilmfestivali.org/program.html
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PRIZE/AWARD
September, 2012
Sinop’s Culture office awarded the short documentary HELESA with a special jury prize/award and selected it to be shown at the 1st Sinop Film Festival.
http://www.sinopfilmfestivali.org/oduller.html
www.sinopfilmfestivali.org
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helesa (turk.)
1 Eylül, 2012
FİLM ÖZETİ
Birbirini tanıyan, birbirine güvenen toplumlarda, asırlar içerisinde paylaşıma dayanan kültürel ögeler gelişir. Sinop’ta HELESA kültürünün  oluşmasını ve gelişmesini bu verimli toplum mümkün kılmıştır. Bu Sinop’a has, Ramazan dolayısıyla farklı mevsimlerde yaşanan, Sinop’un her  ferdini kapsayan bir etkinliktir, ve en önemlisi Sinop’u farklı kılan bir  etkinliktir. HELESA belgeseli, konuya dikkat çekmek amacıyla çekilmiştir. Vural Etyemez, eski Sinop’tan günümüze ulaşan helesa kültürünün tarihini ve günümüzde aldığı şeklini anlatıyor. Belgelenen HELESA etkinliği, Ağustos 2012 yılda Sinop sokaklarını süslemiştir.