The Bogeyman is the story of two siblings, Ayse and Ahmet, who live in a village near the central Anatolian city of Konya. After their mother dies, Ayse and Ahmet’s father remarries a woman who doesn’t want the children to live with them. The siblings live with their Grandfather, Hasan, as they struggle to stay together amidst an uncertain future. Hasan’s daughter, Fatma, writes from Germany saying that her sister’s children can come and live with her but the paperwork for them to emigrate takes longer than anticipated. As Ayse and Ahmet navigate the looming threat of being packed off to a children’s home, Ahmet tries to protect his little sister as best he can. Every night, they take their bedding upstairs onto the roof. Lying there beneath a blanket of stars they talk about their hopes and dreams and their future in Germany. ‘Mommo’ is ‘the bogeyman’, a threat adding further fear to Ahmet’s unstable life as he tries to remain strong for his sister.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
