Didem Pekün

Otherwise in Istanbul is a performative documentary about dancer-choreographer Mihran Tomasyan; through a portrait of Tomasyan, the film also chronicles life in Istanbul in recent history through his personal archive.

The film explores the legacy of the influencial singer who came of age in time of social upheaval and her music served as platform as political activist. She had complicated with her country and intense relationship with her lifelong partner Erdem Buri, who was also politically persecuted. Using her own story as a parallel minor narrative, filmmaker Didem explores the themes of art, identity and politics. This is particularly timely approach given the social and economical turmoil the world is faced. DIdem's story serves as contemporary corollary, giving the viewer additional lens to view German's work and her continuing relevance.

Araf is an essayistic road movie and diary of a ghostly character, Nayia, who travels between Srebrenica, Sarajevo, and Mostar in Bosnia. She has been in exile since the war and returns for the 22nd memorial of the Srebrenica genocide. The film is guided by her diary notes of the journey, which merge with the myth of Daedalus and Icarus – Icarus being the name given to the winner of a bridge diving competition in her home country.

The people independent from each other coming from the four corners of Turkey meet, they walked 1400 kilometers for the peace walk from Roboski to Ankara, the film is being on the road and the road.

A throw of the dice acts as a metaphor through which to think of individual existence, where the patterns of everyday life are indeterminable and our actions, a choice. The throw affirms a sense of urgency, as well as an awareness of how our lives and history are in a perpetual state of repetition but with paradoxical variations. Working with the fluctuating rhythms of everyday life Of dice and men is an essayistic video diary punctuated by moments of subjective consequence and markers in a shared history. Presented in dialogue across two screens, the work mainly come from London and Istanbul, two cities which Pekün’s life straddles - and is torn between. It includes footage of the Occupy movements that began in London in 2011 as well as Istanbul’s Gezi protests in 2013, interlaced with more joyful and elusive experiences: boys diving into the Bosphorus or a first encounter with a feat of nature.

The genocide at Srebrenica unfolds under the guardianship of the UN, as the world’s leading diplomats and military experts are unwilling to intervene.