A Vacation

Running time: 29 minutes, (2018)

 

The arrival of a solitary stranger to a remote area in the Turkish highlands slowly upsets the unspoken social structure of the local community, as there is more to this man than his modest appearance might disclose at first sight. As strange events begin to unfold, the locals become increasingly suspicious to the outsider. Operating within a cinematic fiction of its own enigmatic design, ‘A Vacation’ immerses us in a specific yet elusive world where the silent and misty landscapes turn into the site of an equally silent violence and repression. With its evocative imagery and dark-scented ambience, Eroglu’s elliptic narrative offers an analysis of the illusion of freedom and the mechanics of repression at a time when these sort of reflections can be applied all too well to what is happening in the world around us.

From the Sharjah Film Platform catalogue:

“In this collaboration between Deniz Eroglu and Hüseyin Isçi, the artist attempts to convey Isçi’s current existential conditions. The film examines the six-month imprisonment of the actor on suspicion of supporting the 2016 coup d’etat in Turkey and his fear of being indicted.”

 

Actors: Hüseyin İşçi, Beytullah Korkmaz, Olcan Çakmak, Kahraman Karasan, Mahmoud Karataş
Produced by Mustafa Eroglu & Cem Eroglu
Cinematographer: Nicolas Geissler
Sound design: David Loscher