Belmin Söylemez

Planning to take any job she can get in order to save enough money and leave Turkey for the U.S., Mina is hired at an Istanbul café as a fortune teller who reads the dregs in coffee cups. She discovers she has the ability to offer comfort and insight to the customers who are just as lost in the wilderness as she is.

Dream Workers is an intimate and daring journey into women's creativity, dreams, and unexpected confrontations by life through the intertwined stories of eight women filmmakers and a village women's theatre group from Turkey. The conditions of urban and cultural gentrification, pandemic, and isolation that initially threaten the film become part of the film. Listening to the creation stories of these women directors, including the director of the documentary, the audience experiences their different ways of living life and making art under the contemporary socio-cultural dynamics of Turkey.

The story of a young woman entering the world of filmmaking as assistant director to Bilge Olgaç and the two years they worked together. Through her diary, Belmin Söylemez explores what she learned from Bilge Olgaç, the most productive woman director in the history of Turkish Cinema. The film also gives us clues on filmmaking in Turkey in the late 80’s. From tough shooting conditions to 35 mm editing, we discover Olgaç’s world through her assistant’s eyes. ‘Bilge and Her Apprentice’ pays tribute to the life and work of Bilge Olgaç, who passed away in 1994.

Turkish men talk about their moustache. They discuss the importance of the moustache from a social, historical, political and aesthetic point of view. Is the moustache a symbol of masculinity? Does it have a heroic meaning? Does it represent one’s political view? The film reflects on these questions from men’s point of view. With her creative outlook, Belmin Söylemez successfully depicts a humorous and lasting portrait of men in Turkey based on the moustache.

The Waves focuses a boy named Emrah's one day on the shores of the Bosphorus.

Aylin, a business student who dreams of becoming an actress, wants to land the role of a concubine in an Ottoman TV series. Frida rehearses her unfinished play on the streets. Famous actress Lale struggles to keep her theater afloat. The paths of the three women cross in Istanbul at Lale's course.

The film deals with the problems experienced when a man who is released from prison returns home. Tarik is about to get out of the prison he has been in for six years. He married Nurten a few days before he went to prison, but hasn't seen her for years. Nurten lives with Tarık's family after Tarık goes to prison. During the years Tarık was in prison, she became close to her husband's brother Fikret and became pregnant. When Tarik is released, he will both try to get used to the new life outside and confront his wife and brother's relationship. (Derived from tsa.org.tr)

Another reflection of Söylemez's unique relationship with Istanbul, the film successfully captures the rhythm, rituals and unique atmosphere of Istanbul through the inhabitants of the apartment buildings in a unique urban passageway.

Video-documentary about Istanbul taxi drivers. Traffic reveals the character of the big city, reflects the behavior patterns. For many people it is part of the boring routine, but for others it is a way of life. 34 Taxi is a video-documentary work that tells Istanbul from the point of view of taxi drivers. The film, shot mostly during the journeys, is based on the conversations of taxi drivers with their customers.

Soner, who is in his adolescence, loses his close friend dog Şifo. He wanders the streets of Istanbul in search of Şifo.