Mamay / Mamai

The film is based on Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar legends. The first is “The Duma of the Three Brothers of Azov,” a Ukrainian song that was passed down by word of mouth by kobzars in the 16th century and later recorded by Mykola Lysenko and Hryhoriy Kvitka-Osnovyanenko. The second is the epic of the Turkic peoples, in particular the Crimean Tatars, “The Dervish’s Song of the Three Valiant Mamluks,” which tells the story of three brothers who left mercenary service after hearing the cries of the Golden Singing Cradle. And the third one is a story written by the director himself about a Tatar woman who nurses a young Cossack who was found near death. The name of this Cossack is Mamai.