#resistayol
Rüzgâr Buşki
In the summer of 2013, Rüzgâr Buşki was on his way to Istanbul to make a documentary about his close friend Şevval, a trans-LGBTI activist.
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#resistayol
Documentary Film
Germany,
Turkey
2016
56 minutes
subtitles:
English
In the summer of 2013, Rüzgâr Buşki was on his way to Istanbul to make a documentary about his close friend Şevval, a trans-LGBTI activist. What he didn’t realise was that his visit coincided with the Gezi Park protests, one of the biggest demonstrations in Turkish history. Inevitably, the focus of the documentary shifted in light of these events and we, just like Şevval, participate in this turning point. High spirited and whimsical, “#resistayol” shows us a magical moment in the lives of thousands of people and gives us a better sense of the contribution of the LGBTI community to the human rights movement in Turkey.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Alien
Morteza Atabaki
And from silence and darkness awakes … an all-moving, all-turning being. White, yellow and golden spindles in vigorous synchronised rotation.
Credits
Sareh Molahoseini, Morteza Atabaki
Morteza Atabaki
Morteza Atabaki
Ehsan Vaseghi
Hasan Mahdavi
And from silence and darkness awakes … an all-moving, all-turning being. White, yellow and golden spindles in vigorous synchronised rotation. Twirling in shiny pirouettes in an old workshop full of nooks and crannies, they spin the big thread, sacrificing themselves. In the midst of the heat and noise of the historic machine souls a hunched old man is working, sometimes a cog, sometimes the conductor.
André Eckardt
Honorary Mention Healthy Workplaces Film Award
André Eckardt
Honorary Mention Healthy Workplaces Film Award
Attention!
Onur Bakır, Panagiotis Charamis
The 32-year-old PhD candidate Onur finds himself in a dilemma: Should he pay to be exempted from military service or should he enlist for the compulsory six month period?
Attention!
The 32-year-old PhD candidate Onur finds himself in a dilemma: Should he pay to be exempted from military service or should he enlist for the compulsory six month period? To help him with the decision, he turns the camera on his family and friends who provide mixed responses on the ethical and political aspects of the choice he is about to make. Tackling a controversial subject with a humorous tone, “Attention!” offers an insight into the Turkish psyche with regard to their own armed forces, which remain one of the ten biggest in the world. Onur has only two months to decide: Will he pay his way out or will he go?
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Audience Emancipated: The Struggle for the Emek Movie Theater
Emek Bizim İstanbul Bizim (collective)
The chronicle of a phenomenal fight to save the century-old Emek Theatre.
Audience Emancipated: The Struggle for the Emek Movie Theater
The chronicle of a phenomenal fight to save the century-old Emek Theatre, one of Istanbul’s key historical landmarks, from being turned into a shopping mall under the government’s callous urban policies. Starting in 2010, when the venue was scheduled for demolition despite a huge outcry from the public, the struggle for Emek has been a pivotal event in Turkey’s recent political history, one that eventually paved the way for the Gezi Park protests. Using footage collected from various activists who joined the struggle, the film offers a powerful testimony for those who are striving to reclaim the right to their city.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Backward Run
Ayce Kartal
In 2013, millions of people took to the streets to speak out against the Turkish government, which responded with excessive violence.
Backward Run
In 2013, millions of people took to the streets to speak out against the Turkish government, which responded with excessive violence. Entirely drawn by hand and completed in the midst of the protests, “Backward Run” is a diary of this extraordinary struggle for justice and freedom amid the eerie silence of mainstream media.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Bağlar
Berke Baş, Melis Birder
“Bağlar” is about those who won’t give in to despair.
Credits
Berke Baş, Melis Birder, Özgür Doğan, Zeynel Doğan
Berke Baş, Melis Birder
Berke Baş, Melis Birder, Zeynel Doğan
Melis Birder, Kim Miille, Ali Ağa, Berke Baş
Cenker Kökten
For the city of Diyarbakır, usually featured in the news in the context of army operations, explosions, airstrikes, curfews and funerals, the focus on a local basketball team is a rarity. In Bağlar, a district of Diyarbakır, Berke Baş and Melis Birder follow the young players of the local basketball team and their dedicated coach Gökhan Yıldırım over the course of three years, capturing intimate moments of victory, frustration, fear, anger and hope.
At the heart of the Kurdish conflict, the boys appear as vulnerable as the city itself, but determined to succeed, and looking towards a better future. “Bağlar” is about those who won’t give in to despair.
Özge Calafato
At the heart of the Kurdish conflict, the boys appear as vulnerable as the city itself, but determined to succeed, and looking towards a better future. “Bağlar” is about those who won’t give in to despair.
Özge Calafato
Colony
Gürcan Keltek
Since 2007, the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus has been conducting excavations in the Kyrenia Mountains with the hopes of returning the remains of Greek and Turkish Cypriots to their respective families.
Colony
Documentary Film
Netherlands,
Turkey
2015
52 minutes
subtitles:
English
Credits
Aziz Mullaaziz, Gürcan Keltek
Gürcan Keltek
Murat Tuncel
Fırat Gürgen
Marc van Goethem
Since 2007, the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus has been conducting excavations in the Kyrenia Mountains with the hopes of returning the remains of Greek and Turkish Cypriots to their respective families. Skeletons are exhumed; mass graves are uncovered with the help of surviving anonymous witnesses. These individuals have been missing since the tragedies of 1963/64 and 1974.
With staggering camerawork and a poised pace, “Colony” unearths Cyprus’s unsettling memory of conflict. Exploring the issues of trauma, remembrance and reconciliation, the film delves into the intricate relationship between geography and human psychology.
Özge Calafato
With staggering camerawork and a poised pace, “Colony” unearths Cyprus’s unsettling memory of conflict. Exploring the issues of trauma, remembrance and reconciliation, the film delves into the intricate relationship between geography and human psychology.
Özge Calafato
Eine Art Liebe
Dirk Schäfer
A young man deeply torn between the rules of his Kurdish clan and his desire for a life of his own. A touching portrait untainted by stereotypes.
Eine Art Liebe
Documentary Film
Germany,
Turkey
2012
70 minutes
subtitles:
German
Even if he wouldn’t put it this way himself, Nevzat, the 30-year-old protagonist of this touching portrait from the depths of the Kurdish provinces, was a lifelong prisoner. Walled in between the archaic laws of his family clan and obedience to his father, he has no space left for his own desires or decisions. There’s only jobs he’s not allowed to choose and unwanted obligations. Saving money and leaving the village. Being in love just once. Somehow having a good life after all. The filmmaker Dirk Schäfer seems to have entered Nevzat’s life at the precise moment when his secret desires break free and he starts to throw off cultural ballast. He regularly commutes between Istanbul construction sites and his village. The promise of a metropolis there, the wall between him and his desires at home. On one level “Eine Art Liebe” portrays a man who believes in the right to a personal, self-determined happiness. On a second level a relationship between Nevzat and the director develops very carefully, often indicated only by a look or a gesture. Dirk Schäfer speaks Nevzat’s language, which enables him to enter into a reserved, direct dialogue with Nevzat, respecting the pre-existing limits. The filmmaker’s achievement lies in using his protagonist’s rebellion to open the door to a reality that seems alien and outdated. Nevzat profits from the exchange with the German who acts as a sounding board for his doubts and wishes. At the end he calls him teacher, because one doesn’t address one’s elders by their first name. But a teacher from whom he emancipates himself like he did from his cultural constraints.
Matthias Heeder
Honorary Mention in the German Competition Documentary Film 2012
Matthias Heeder
Honorary Mention in the German Competition Documentary Film 2012
Fidelity
Baran Vardar
Every day, Mehmet travels for an hour to open his teahouse that is frequented by only a handful of people still left in the village.
Fidelity
Every day, Mehmet travels for an hour to open his teahouse that is frequented by only a handful of people still left in the village. The teahouse is his only source of income but there’s much more to keeping it alive. With stunning cinematography and a dreamlike setting, “Fidelity” portrays the forgotten universe of passion and devotion.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Hey Neighbour!
Bingöl Elmas
The ruthless gentrification policies of the government and rapid urban transformation have taken a big toll on Istanbul in the past decade.
Hey Neighbour!
The ruthless gentrification policies of the government and rapid urban transformation have taken a big toll on Istanbul in the past decade. “Hey Neighbour!” is about two neighbours whose lives couldn’t be further apart. A young woman who enjoys luxury living in one of Istanbul’s newly built tower residence apartments – and an older one who, in her beloved old house in a dilapidated quarter nearby, watches the construction of a new Istanbul around her in shock and apprehension. As the gap between the rich and poor widens, gated communities proliferate, fences are built, trees disappear; the city’s rich history slowly perishes.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
I Remember
Selim Yıldız
On 28 December 2011, 34 civilians, including 19 children, were killed by the Turkish army, who “mistook” them for PKK militants in an airstrike in Uludere district near the Turkish-Iraqi Border.
I Remember
Credits
Seyithan Çalışan
Selim Yıldız
Selim Yildiz, Azad Doğru
Erol Şaybak
Şiyar Aksoy
On 28 December 2011, 34 civilians, including 19 children, were killed by the Turkish army, who “mistook” them for PKK militants in an airstrike in Uludere district near the Turkish-Iraqi Border. They were carrying smuggled goods – like most people in the region, who have, for generations, earned a living by illegal border trade. “I Remember” follows 14 year old Sinan, who lost his 16 year old brother in the massacre, as he takes over the household. His mother lives in fear and despair, waiting for him to return home safe every time he hits the road.
The film was at the centre of a row over censorship, after having been withdrawn from the Ankara IFF at the last minute in April 2016.
Özge Calafato
The film was at the centre of a row over censorship, after having been withdrawn from the Ankara IFF at the last minute in April 2016.
Özge Calafato
It’s Ari Sir, Not Ali
Deniz Özden
About a world that’s hardly ever talked about: what is it like to do your compulsory military service in Turkey as an Armenian, Greek or Jewish citizen?
It’s Ari Sir, Not Ali
Credits
Deniz Özden, Ergin Aydın
Deniz Özden
Deniz Özden
Deniz Özden
Burak Taşçilar Taşçılar
About a world that’s hardly ever talked about: what is it like to do your compulsory military service in Turkey as an Armenian, Greek or Jewish citizen? Former soldiers from Turkey’s various religious minorities tell their stories openheartedly and with a wonderful sense of humour.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Mercury
Melis Balcı, Ege Okal
A young gallery assistant goes to dinner with her boss, joined by an art collector, a curator and an institutional director. She has a hard time fitting in.
Mercury
A young gallery assistant goes to dinner with her boss, joined by an art collector, a curator and an institutional director. She has a hard time fitting in. Entirely hand-drawn and coloured, Melis Balcı and Ege Okal disclose the absurd hierarchies of the art world in this witty and spot on debut film.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
North
Çayan Demirel, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu
Through wild Kurdistan: PKK fighters talk about their motives, their lives, their people, their right to resist. A film that takes a stance, banned in Turkey.
North
Documentary Film
Turkey
2015
96 minutes
subtitles:
English
Credits
Ayşe Çetinbaş
Çayan Demirel, Ertuğrul Mavioğlu
Koray Kesik
Burak Dal
Ahmet Bawer Aydemir
There was a considerable scandal at the Istanbul Film Festival 2015 which – see Internet censorship, see Taksim Square – was not really surprising: the screening of a film about the Kurdish PKK guerrilla had to be called off at short notice after the Turkish Ministry of Culture had intervened. “North” investigates issues of national identity, the history of the PKK, human rights and the role of women. The narrative is set against a backdrop of scenes from different PKK training camps in the mountainous border region between Turkey, Syria and Iraq, where the director met confident young people. Devoid of illusion in its depiction of the Kurds’ situation and very personal in the presentation of their motives, the film manages to link individual lives with ideas of home and the right to resistance in a credible and authentic manner. A second level expands this personal angle through political and historical evaluations by military and political PKK leaders. “North” is a political film that clearly takes a stance and describes self-determination as a universal human right. In a country where everyone who does not share the President’s opinion is a suspect that’s certainly a provocation. But what a paranoid response.
Matthias Heeder
Matthias Heeder
Once upon a Time
Kazım Öz
Approximately one million people in Turkey are hired as seasonal workers every year. They are severely exploited, working for very low wages without any insurance. Most of them are Kurdish and underage.
Once upon a Time
Documentary Film
Turkey
2014
81 minutes
subtitles:
English
Approximately one million people in Turkey are hired as seasonal workers every year. They are severely exploited, working for very low wages without any insurance. Most of them are Kurdish and underage. “Once Upon a Time” follows the story of one such Kurdish family, who travel from their hometown of Batman in Southeast Turkey to the capital city, Ankara, to grow lettuce as hired hands. During this migration, a sudden love story changes the course of events … Veteran filmmaker Kazım Öz’s documentary offers a personal perspective on the labour conditions and stark class inequalities that persist in today’s Turkey.
Özge Calafato
Özge Calafato
Overtime
Gürcan Keltek
The industrial outskirts of a grey Istanbul. The world of Turkish and Kurdish low-wage workers in grainy black and white in an unusual film.
Overtime
Documentary Film
Turkey
2012
20 minutes
subtitles:
English
“Overtime” is a stylistically idiosyncratic look at the working world of the Turkish-curdish low-wage labourers who, attracted by a booming Istanbul, still stay what they have always been – underdogs: badly educated, no insurance or work protection, subject to the despotism of their bosses and with absolutely no perspective of ever improving their situation. The film translates its protagonists’ attitude to life into a visual language as precarious as their lives. Rough, grainy black and white, a handheld, long focal distance camera, intercut travellings, restless images, always on the run, always moving, accompanied by the terse, well-timed off-screen tales of these people. Brief insights into mentalities shaped by bowing down: to the boss who beats them, the state that doesn’t help, life which takes the loved one away because there’s no money for marrying. Only the rent boy whose work concludes this visual journey through the industrial outskirts of a grey Istanbul seems to revolt against this order. But his experience does not suggest a better life. Only bodies subjugated by work. It’s a bold and depressing picture. And was the Bosporus Bridge, symbol of a prospering, future-oriented Turkey, ever photographed as sadly as in this film?
– Matthias Heeder
– Matthias Heeder
