The story of Ölü Ekmeği, or Food for a Funeral, is set in a drought-ridden, poverty-stricken part of rural Anatolia at the beginning of the 1960s, where it is customary for children to watch over their animals high up on the hillsides, from which they have sweeping views of the plain below. Whenever they see food being prepared for either a wedding or a funeral, 

 one or two children are sent down into the village to find whatever they can beg, borrow, or steal and to bring it back for them all to share. 

Mustafa, an apprentice to a well-known ashik, or bard, in the area, longs to write songs for Gülbayaz, an older girl whom he loves with a passion, and to win her heart. 

He also happens to be the most enthusiastic among the children when it comes to fetching the pickings on offer in villages. But in the two villages he visits, two big surprises lie in store. One is a wedding feast, the other a funeral feast, and both will make him suffer. . . . Description courtesy of the Boston Turkish Film Festival.