Ahmet Gürata

Blue, Revolution and VHS Tapes

An archival biography in three chapters, exploring the revolutionary potential of being a cinephile. A war pilot, a radical revolutionary, and a cinephile... This is the portrait of a man who left the army and built a successful career as businessman in Europe. Only a few people knew that he was also an undercover member of the resistance movement against Turkey’s military regime in early 1970s. Mekin Gönenç later dedicated most of his life to the movies. When he died after suffering a heart attack while swimming in 2011, he left behind thousands of VHS tapes and meticulously crafted home-made film journals. His death between the two blues he cherished most—the sea and the sky— now give some consolation to his wife. Through archives, we trace the journey of a 20th-century romantic.

Before the Night

Before the Night portrays ordinary life under the enduring state of emergency, from the perspective of its three characters. Gulbîn, a painter living with her parents, is trying to make her own way in life, while obsessively painting a portrait of her mum with inspiration from Whistler's painting Mother. The mother models for her daughter while trying to insulate her house from the noise of the bombs to no avail. The father, whose health is deteriorating, tries to reimagine his war-stricken city with old photographs he took.