When their father is killed in a blood feud, Yusuf and Kenan, two shepherd boys, flee to Istanbul in search of their uncle. They become involved with the streetboys, and Yusuf turns to crime although Kenan wants to learn a trade.

Yusuf and Kenan is a masterful demonstration of Ömer Kavur’s command over social realism. Unfolding the precarious lives of street children within the simmering political climate preceding Turkey’s 1980 coup, this film indelibly marks a milestone in Turkish cinema’s international resonance.