This year’s Country in Focus programme presents an insight into Turkish cinema. Which topics are most pressing to young Turkish filmmakers? What are their influences? Which forces are shaping their identities?

Borders exist in all aspects of our lives. Geographical and political borders cause international tensions, despair and suffering but can also be a source of pride and identity. Personal borders help outline our self, create definitions and expectations about who we are and how we want to be perceived. A border can define and shape. It can exclude. It can create a clear division between opposites: wealth and poverty, love and hate, familiar and foreign. But a border can also be changed, breached and ignored. The separation between two things, whether metaphorical or literal might only be as real and solid as we allow it to be. This programme shows a variety of seemingly black-and-white contrasts and presents protagonists who dare to cross the border. 

LINK TO FILM LIST

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with selected filmmakers and the voting for the Country in Focus audience award. 

Language: Original with English subtitles

Supported by: ZEOK e.V.

PROGRAMME

WOLVES

Governor Behçet and his wife Ilgın leave city life and settle in a village. Wary of the new head of government and his wife’s patronising attitude, the villagers avoid them. When a local water canal causes the death of several children, Behçet denies responsibility and must suffer the consequences.

Director/Script: Ecre Begüm Bayrak Producer: Canberk Dursunoğlu Year: 2024 Duration: 20:04 Language: Turkish with Eng subtitles

I WAS SO AFRAID OF YOU RUNNING AWAY

An exploration of between desire and restraint, freedom and constraint. The fragile balance between self-expression and self-sabotage in the pursuit of love. The enigma of love as a dynamic force that transcends conventional boundaries and defies simple categorization.

Trigger Warning: flashing lights

Director/Script/Producer: F. Nur Özkaya Year: 2024 Duration: 04:01 Language: Turkish with Eng subtitles

BETWEEN DELICATE AND VIOLENT

Hands and their creations unearth lost memories that have not been included in performative, socially acceptable family albums. Can we see the violence of the painter’s hands in the brush strokes of his paintings? Could cross-stitch be an alphabet of some sort? A family history.

Director/Script/Production: Şirin Bahar Demirel Year: 2023 Duration: 14:40 Language: Turkish with Eng subtitles

THINGS UNHEARD OF

Şevîn, a Kurdish ten-year-old girl lives with her family in the countryside. When her grandmother’s television gets confiscated, she does everything she can to get her a new one. After all, the television is her grandmother’s only gateway to the rest of the world. A story of hardship and community.

Director/Script: Ramazan Kilic Producer: Erin Koc, Ramazan Kilic Year: 2023 Duration: 15:35 Language: Kurdish, Turkish with Eng subtitles

SALMAN WANTS TO GO

Salman is a Senegalese asylum seeker living in Turkey. He dreams of passing on to Europe to continue his unfinished university education and to financially support his family. During his time in Turkey, he works in different jobs to save money and makes connections with fellow workers.

Director/Script/Production: Ozan Takış Year: 2025 Duration: 20:00 Language: French, Turkish with Eng subtitles

AS IF IT COULD

When Olive’s plant does not grow as it should, Olive leaves her home in search of new grounds. Arriving in a foreign land, Olive realises that she also can’t grow new roots that easily. A semi-autobiographical story about borders, home and integration.

Director/Script Ada Güvenir Production: Brecht van Elslande Year: 2023 Duration: 13:17