Sons of Soil (Toprağın Çocukları)

The closing years of the Village Institutes, one of the most distinctive experiments in Turkish education, are the subject of the Turkish drama Toprağın Çocukları (Sons of Soil). It is the first feature of director Ali Adnan Özgür and opened on September 14, 2012. It was produced by Erkan Can, who also plays Kemal the teacher, from a screenplay by Dilşah Özdinç. Running about 80 minutes, it was presented as the first film on the subject. The team has said it first considered a documentary, since the subject rests on real events.

The story begins with an attack on a Roma camp. Karika, who flees for her life, is rescued by Cevher, a student at a nearby village institute. With the backing of İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, Cevher gives the orphaned girl a place to stay at the institute. The decision angers the villagers who press the school to expel her. The regional commander Necip, long uneasy about the institute's existence, stages a raid and detains its principal, Kemal the teacher. These events coincide with the period when institutes across the country were being closed.

Kemal's innocence is finally established, but the institutes' fate does not change.