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An older man wearing goggles and blue swimtrunks floats on his back in crystal blue water.

Faruk

  Aslı Özge

  Germany, Turkey, France     97 minutes

Synopsis

Faruk, a widower in his nineties, is fighting to save his Istanbul condo building, which is slated for total reconstruction amidst an earthquake crisis in Turkey. Stubborn and resistant to change, he clashes with contractors and the building’s board. Meanwhile, Faruk’s documentarian daughter, who’s making a film about her father, is pressuring him for power of attorney so that she can take control of the situation — and, ultimately, the apartment. These pressures quietly build as the demolition date encroaches. Is Faruk’s way of life slipping away?

Director Aslı Özge blends fiction and reality as she trains her camera on a fictionalized version of her father, lending an intimate touch to this tender exploration of family, aging, and modernization in the 21st century.

 Turkish with subtitles

In Focus: Germany on Screen

the flag of GermanyThis film is part of the 60th Chicago International Film Festival’s In Focus: Germany on Screen collection highlighting the work of Germany’s most gifted auteur filmmakers.

Learn more about this collection

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Film Credits

  •   Asli Özge
  •   Asli Özge
  •   Andreas Samland, Aslı Özge
  •   Emre Erkmen
  •   Faruk Özge, Derya Erkenci, Nurdan Çakmak, Gönül Gezer, Semih Arslanoğlu
  •   Karim Sebastian Elias
  •   EEE Films, FC Istanbul, Parallel 45, The Post Republic

Sponsors

With Support From

Logo: German Film Office 141x125Logo: German Films - 315x100Logo: Goethe Institut 62x100