Levent Çetin

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.

Listening Through İstanbul

Composer Erdem Helvacıoğlu recorded sounds at three different locations around İstanbul and turned them into compositions. This film documents a journey in pursuit of sounds.

Civilian

Having recently returned from compulsory military service, Emrah, who lives with his mother, refuses to socialise, and strolls alone on highways. He hides two letters in a drawer: one that he has written when he was in the army to his former lover, Sevgi, and another that he has found by the side of the dead body of a guerrilla whose life he has taken. Following the address on the letter, Emrah reaches the house of Zeynep, the guerrilla’s lover, and leaves the letter there. But this will not relieve his nightmares. With the help of his uncle, he finds a job as a night watch. Forced to spend the whole night in a small room, Emrah will go through troubled times and the nightmares will become all the worse leading into ever more confusion.