Cihan Taşkın

The year is 1996, about five years before September 11. But the foundations are already being laid. Because the world is a complicated place, and nothing starts just one day before. The place is Afghanistan, in the heat of civil war. Thousands of people who have lost their lives, their possessions, and their homes are waiting for the fighting to end. Yusuf and his friends, however, are going there for humanitarian aid. As Yusuf and his friends prepare to set out, Osama bin Laden is crossing the Afghan border to his new headquarters. Yusuf and his friends meet thousands of people in Afghanistan that year, and one of them is a young man who will become known to the whole world on September 11, 2001.

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.

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.