Melisa Önel

Denise, a botanist, is working in the swamps in a part of Turkey, planting and researching local flora. In her evenings she sometimes meets with her lover Hamit, a simple man at first glance. But he is making his living with human trafficking which he keeps a secret from Denise. When Hamit learns that Denise is being sent back to her home country soon, one final trafficking job takes a dark outcome.

Reyhan realizes that she has lost her sense of smell during a short vacation. Although the possibility of a serious illness worries her, she will follow her instincts to regain her sense of smell instead of undergoing further tests.

Coastliners puts the theme of “human rights” together with different stories, and consists of five short fiction films made by internationally acclaimed different directors. We accompany the personal effects of refugees washed ashore, the peculiar story of an assaulted young man, a mother and daughter who take refuge in a house when bombs sound on the Syrian border, a hero stuck in the hurly burly of Istanbul, trying to overcome obstacles; and the her spiritual journey of a pregnant woman trying to return to her village from where she was cast away.

A body and a place where we can find ourselves. The movie is about Esmeray, activist drag queen who bypasses many definitions of femininity and masculinity in Turkey. From the streets of Istanbul to the Eastern villages of Kars, the story switches back and forth between the desire to belong and the reality that shapes our identities.The affirmation of his personal choice (and nature) in the society he lives in is a need and a mission for Esmeray. He is committed socially and politically to fighting against all discrimination, and as a result becomes the spokesperson for the gay movement on television. Esmeray writes and performs a comic, but touching, stage monologue where he recounts the difficulties he has found in declaring his diversity in his rural village. And tells of his homesickness, which is stronger than he would have ever imagined it could be.