East of the West - Competition 2016 / Eşik / Turkey, Germany 2016
A young woman waits for her husband to return from one of his regular business trips. However, he never shows up, and her joyful anticipation of seeing him develops into questioning concern and ultimately paralysing fear. The empty apartment becomes a labyrinth of memory and expectation, its silence broken only by the agonising sound of car engines, none of which announce her husband’s arrival…
Fikret has always been aware of the roar of cars streaming back and forth on the motorway outside the flat where she grew up and where she now lives with her husband Halil. But now it’s clear that she’s much more alert to the monotonous rumbling below the window. One of the car engines is different from all the others and the sound of it fills her with joy: it’s Halil returning from a business trip. But, this time, the waiting seems interminable and the young woman begins to fear the worst. The days of uncertainty are marked off by the loud highway metronome, and neither her parents nor a close friend can drown out the noise. Fikret begins to lose herself, first in the empty flat, then in her own memories and imaginings, in which she tries to conjure up images of her husband and her happy childhood. This feature debut by the Turkish directing duo captures the yearning one feels for an absent loved one, employing an unconventional approach that only increases the sense of urgency. The film score is replaced by the harrowing, repetitive sound of car engines echoing through the apartment, which is cleverly conceived as a labyrinth of crucial moments in one particular life.
Anna Kořínek
83 min / Color, DCP
World premiere
Director Ayhan Salar, Erkan Tahhuşoğlu
/ Screenplay Ayhan Salar, Erkan Tahhuşoğlu
/ Dir. of Photography Ayhan Salar
/ Editor Ayhan Salar
/ Art Director Göksel Demir
/ Producer Erkan Tahhuşoğlu, Ayhan Salar
/ Production Şiyara Film, Salarfilm
/ Cast Senem Çelikkol, Mine Özen, Bedia Yaman, Raci Küçük, Zeynep Raif, Ali Meriç, Akan Atakan, Şaziye Güzel
/ Contact Salarfilm, Şiyara Film
Ayhan Salar (b. 1967, İzmir, Turkey) studied social and cultural sciences and philosophy at the University of Bremen and continued with post-graduate studies in the film department of Bremen’s Academy of Arts. Since then he has been working as a screenwriter, director and cinematographer. He established the independent production company Salarfilm in 1990. Erkan Tahhuşoğlu studied graphic design at the fine arts faculty of Anadolu University in Eskişehir from 1992 to 1996. He subsequently studied communication design at the University of Braunschweig. He has worked as an art director for various advertising agencies. He published his first book, Şiyara’nın Çocukları, in 2009 and founded the Şiyara Film production company in 2013. Both directors have independently shot a number of shorts. Verge is their joint feature-film debut.
Salarfilm
Rütgerweg 4, 22763, Hamburg
Germany
E-mail: [email protected]
Şiyara Film
Altan Erbulak sok., Birlik apt. 7D, , Istanbul
Turkey
E-mail: [email protected]
Erkan Tahhuşoğlu
Film Director
Ayhan Salar
Director of Photography
Senem Çelikkol
Actress
Mine Özen
Actress
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