Zonguldak, city of mines and miners... City of people entering underground at the cost of their lives, under heavy work conditions. There are also illegal mines in the city–mines, where not even the slightest precautions are taken, where we witness various stories of existence under the heavy work burden. One of the saddest to hear is the stories of children and mules becoming an integral part of illegal coal production. Sigh describes the ruthless struggle in the illegal coal mines in the mountains of Zonguldak. "We have witnessed that the production was sustained with methods and conditions of 1900s. We were not even allowed to take photographs, let alone shoot a film in these illegal mines. Security teams of the Turkish Pit Coal Institution would come and seal such mines by blowing up dynamites following denunciation. Therefore, we would lose both our story and the characters of the story. Sigh comprises such challenges and search." – Metin Kaya |