Derya Durmaz

Deniz and her friends, who have been apart for the summer, have much to tell each other. While adults are busy with their professional lives, Deniz and her friends are still confused about their university plans. Through the worries of their daily routines, they make plans for the future, yet the challenges of teenage years/adolescence are burdensome. Deniz desires a life that is different than the ideals of her friends. A song nobody has heard of, a hopeless love, solitude. A different world, but where exactly?

Teenage best friends Doe and Muna are heading off on what seems like the trip of a lifetime. Quiet, observant Doe hasn’t travelled since arriving in the UK as a Somali refugee aged three. Muna, sharp and fearless with Pakistani roots, leads them through airport security and into the unknown. But this isn’t a holiday. The girls are bound for Istanbul, planning to cross into Syria to begin a new life they believe holds purpose and meaning. When their fixer fails to appear, panic sets in, but turning back isn’t an option. Alone in a foreign city, they must improvise fast, pushing the limits of their courage, their faith, and their friendship.

Fifty-year-old Murad’s life is shaken to the core when he learns that his younger brother is gay. Murad would like to support his brother, but their traditional Muslim family is against it. As a result, he finds himself subjected to pressures from all sides – from his father, who has close ties to the local imam, and from his brother’s circle of friends as well. He would like to help everyone, but as he slowly falls into a spiral of conflicts and mounting difficulties, he finds that he, too, is in need of help. Another integral part of this family drama is the theme of migration and dialogue – not just between different religions, but within communities themselves.

Omnibus of five short films that were shot in the Turkish province of Kars, on the border with Armenia. Among the five directors are three debutants who were chosen to film their stories after winning a scenario contest. The final result is a sympathetic collection of films that remain small and simple: the puppy love between a boy and a girl on their winter trip to school, the memories of a young woman about her mother's response to her first menstruation and bra, and the story of a student who returns to his village, but all too soon flees again for the past that is waiting for him there. The stories take place strikingly often around the cemetery and look at things from the past being revealed. The last contribution to the omnibus film is also significantly called ‘a small truth’.

A wig-maker from Istanbul, who suffers from cancer, becomes obsessed with a woman who enters his shop one day.

Sivan, at around the age of 20, is a native of the Southeastern region of Anatolia. His father Saho is the leader of the Givdanli tribe who stays distant both to the state and to the insurgents who are influent in the region, in order to secure its existence. One day, Sivan meets with the girl he loves, Berfin in a field around the village. The same day the field is burnt by saboteurs and the whole harvest of the village is wasted. The investigation initiated after the incident, changes Sivan's life drastically. Taken in for an interrogation, Sivan is caught between the police and the insurgents. Thinking his son's life is in peril, Saho assures Sivan's fleeing out of the country. Taken to Germany by the help of a illegal network, Sivan is located in a refugee camp. However, in this new land whose language is alien to him, Sivan will go through an ordeal which will add a new dimension to the residue of his experiences in Turkey.

Seven years ago, Celil, the only son of the family, was returning from military service. There was a flurry of excitement at home. Celil's sister Delal had married Nazif and given birth to a baby girl. The family welcomed Celil with excitement. The very next day, during a picnic, Delal noticed that her brother was attracted to the neighbor's daughter. She takes the young Heda with them and sends her out of the area. Her intention is to facilitate their conversation and understanding. However, while Celil and the young girl are walking, they step on a mine and lose their lives. Over time, Delal cannot bear the guilt and commits suicide. Seven years later, Heda has married her sister's husband and is raising their daughter. She is also pregnant. The family believes the baby will be a boy. However, Nazif is neglecting his wife and spending his nights with his lover, Defne. Meanwhile, Heda's mother, Cemile, is struggling with a crisis that no one else can see.

Love and Revolution is a story that puts the years of youth at its center. These are the years in which humankind feels the sense of belonging, the urge to take root in life in the strongest way. This is a period in which the existing identities are not adequate and all kinds of thirst (intellectual, sexual, psychological, political, etc.) disturb the existence. The kernel of the sense of youth, which gives the movie its spirit, is desire. The desire for Love and Revolution.

Several directors from countries of the region were invited to create stories taking place in and around the beautiful city of Istanbul, in the vein of “Paris, je t’aime” and “New York, I love you”. They come together to remind viewers that Istanbul’s history does not belong only to the people of Turkey.

Nehir comes across to someone singing songs all night long. She likes what she listens so much that she goes after this mysterious musician.

Facing societal pressure to restore her virginity before her upcoming wedding, a 22-year-old woman struggles to afford a hymen reconstruction operation while questioning the oppressive expectations placed upon her body.

Tolga is a science-fiction writer who has never been able to achieve the success of his first book. The signature day of his last book also results in a fiasco. Tolga, who has become a depressed soul, also fights with his lover Ebru and is abandoned. Tolga comes to the Nightmare House, which is far from the crowd of the city, hoping to listen to herself and to catch the muse again. Here, when he wakes up in the morning, the fatigue he does not make sense and some strange events he encounters drag Tolga into the chaos he cannot get out of. The fierce struggle confronts a father and son. Are the dream thieves two vampires, or two souls trapped in different universes and sizes, in the words of this father-son Tolga?

A small story born in Berlin, the city that fools you with its liberal outlook and makes you feel that all the problems of patriarchy and gender inequality are solved there. But then you discover that things are still not so different from how they were in the dark days of the past.

A "modern" Turkish family expects an exchange student from France who will accompany her 10-year-old daughter for the summer. Their shy daughter will not only practice French, but also have a friend finally. When this "expected visitor" came Nergiz is frustrated that the boy's name is Hafid and she does not find him "French" enough.

In a typical western Anatolian town with two-story wooden houses, a square, and narrow streets, Liberation Day is approaching. A group of locals has formed a choir and begun preparations for a classical music concert for Liberation Day. The choir is nearing the end of its rehearsals. Although the choir is not entirely harmonious, they have managed to achieve a certain unity and are now in their final rehearsals before Independence Day. They are all working together on Sadettin Kaynak's piece titled "Spring Is Over, Autumn Is Over." Everyone is filled with excitement for the upcoming concert. When the town wakes up the next day, everything seems to be the same as before, until two large black jeeps appear at the town limits and stop in front of the town hall. From the moment the three or four Chinese men who emerge from the jeeps, accompanied by a Turkish businessman, head toward the town hall steps, nothing in the town will ever be the same again.