Directing
A coming storm after dog days dawns during a road trip to an island for a funeral. The deceased is buried in haste and a man makes a detour through Aegean Turkey. The funeral is eclipsed by a last wish.
Jo, a 15-year-old tomboy, has a nightmare made of fog and aurora light: her dog is lost, her voice cannot be heard, and her surroundings seem completely unfamiliar. Has the tone of the day been set yet?
Laura (45) suffers from severe amnesia following an accident, so she can’t remember who the people around her are. She is reluctantly persuaded by her family to go on a boat trip to Turkey, but the closer she gets to her destination, the more unclear the purpose of the trip becomes. They are caught up in a series of situations in which they change their minds depending on the context, their own principles seem to be relativized, their choices become irrational.
It’s been years since Akın has been in and out of the hospital. He’s relentless, angry, and shell-shocked from being stuck in the system. Since his discharge, he’s well aware that his old life is long gone. He has become unable to leave his family house except for occasional visits to religious monuments in Istanbul. During those visits, he falls into a state of ecstasy as he tries to take refuge in God. These divine structures trigger something in him. As he loses touch with his true self, his mind shifts into another reality.
The people are in turmoil. The ground from which their enchanted garden grows, is trembling. Between bushes and trees, flowerbeds and fountains, everyone has lost their way on their own. Their eyes search for paths, their hands try to remember. Sometimes they spot something. Sometimes they listen. They catch a whisper, a faint promise. They follow the petals downstream. Further.
Two zoologists seeking the extinct Anatolian panther search for its traces in the deep forests of Anatolia. Veysel believes the almost mythical panther embodies something beyond an animal, an element that Anatolian people have lost and are still looking for. For Emre, only the idea of photographing the absent Anatolian panther excites him. They manage to capture an obscure image of the large cat, but they can’t prove it is the panther’s. The two friend are surprised and disturbed when they see stuffed panthers at the offices of some bureaucrats. A secret Veysel reveals to Emre in Hacıbektaş changes both of them. Will searching for something non-existent destroy them, too?
Hatice, a young and ambitious weightlifter living with her unemployed mother, aims to win the lifetime allowance provided to athletes who win medals in international competitions. In her pursuit of success at all costs, she decides to use an unconventional doping technique at the world championships: She will get pregnant, boost her hormones, and then have an abortion. But when her attempts don’t go as well as she’s anticipated, she has to take unexpected detours.
Instead of enjoying her vacations in a peaceful peninsula of Turkey, Anna feels stuck in a strange torpor, while her boyfriend, Thomas, doesn't seem to notice it at all. Later in the afternoon, when a little girl suddenly disappears on the beach, Anna awakens and decides to go and find her, despite the unknown and the nightfall.
