Theatre actress Derya and her husband Aziz, a university professor, playwright and director, lead a fulfilling life with their 13-year-old daughter, Ezgi – until an incident at the premiere of their new play changes everything. Overnight, they become targets of the state, losing both their jobs and their home. They move to Istanbul to stay temporarily with Aziz’s mother. While Aziz ekes out a living doing odd jobs and remains true to his convictions, Derya searches for a way to become financially independent. As the distance between them and their daughter steadily grows, they are ultimately forced to choose between their principles and their future as a family.
“We wanted to portray a crackdown on a marriage through political repression. Our approach was to show how our leaders are so good at dividing us in order to reign over us. It was a process of fine-tuning it so that half of the audience would side with the male character and the other half with the female one.” (İlker Çatak)
İlker Çatak
Born in Berlin, Germany, in 1984. Being of Turkish descent, Çatak spent his childhood and youth between Berlin and Istanbul before working for four years on German and international film productions and subsequently studying filmmaking. His fourth feature, The Teachers’ Lounge, received an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature Film in 2024.