'Faruk' Directed by Aslı Özge, London International Screenwriting and Film Festival, Best Feature Film, Winner

London International Screenwriting and Film Festival, Best Feature Film, Winner, 'Faruk' Directed by Aslı Özge!

Aslı Özge is born in

Istanbul and based in

Berlin. She made her

feature debut in 2009 with the acclaimed

drama Men on the Bridge, which premiered

at Locarno and Toronto Film Festivals and

won many awards including Best Film Award

at the Istanbul Film Festival. Özge wrote and

directed Lifelong (2013) and the German-

language All of a Sudden (2016), both of

which premiered at Berlin Film Festival’s

Panorama; the latter feature won both

Europa Cinemas Special Label and Fipresci

Awards. In 2023 her film Black Box opened

New German Cinema section at Munich

Festival and won Best Screenplay Award at

Rome Festival. Her most recent film Faruk

(2024) will make its premiere at Berlin Film

Festival’s Panorama, which will be her third

visit at this section.

Faruk, a man in his 90s, becomes the central character of his daughter’s film about the impending demolition of his block of flats in Istanbul. Simultaneously, Faruk attends building management meetings, hoping to delay the demolition process of the building he has been living in for decades. Gradually reality and fiction intertwine and the line between the two starts to blur.

Shot in authentic locations and based on real characters and events, Asli Özge’s new film offers a unique and intimate look at the life of an elderly man in the bustling city of Istanbul exploring not only the implications of gentrification but also the complexities of a father-daughter relationship.

DIRECTOR STATEMENT

The desire to control the natural flow of life. The yearning to reach

the reality within fiction. Perhaps the aspiration to achieve a similar

effect by navigating between opposing perspectives. Taking it a

step further by intentionally blurring the boundaries between reality

and fiction; an effort to subtly shift the audience’s perception.

But doing this from a deeply personal, intimate place. Placing the

camera ‘inside,’ into a ‘vulnerable’ space. Into one’s own home! And

then, sometimes drawing inspiration from real life, and at other

times, documenting how real life imitates fiction.

Over a period of more than 7 years, FARUK emerged from a space

where these ideas clashed in my mind and played out in front of

the camera. While opening the doors of my father’s home, who,

at the age of over 90, has always approached life with calmness

and humor, I portrayed and directed ‘Aslı’ as a character in my

films, depicting her struggle for her own future. I didn’t embrace

her as myself; instead, I thought about anyone who could have

been in her place. In that sense, I didn’t favor her over other

characters. Throughout the film, naturally, my father aged, and

Istanbul transformed. As memories were being erased in front

of our eyes, the city took on an entirely new appearance over

time. As FARUK traces the path of urban transformation, the film

invites the audience on both a fictional and very real journey

about the past, the future, wreckage, being in the moment,

ambitions, youth, and old age.