Directing

Eytan İpeker

Eytan Ipeker is a Turkish director, screenwriter, and producer born in Istanbul. When he was two years old, his family moved to Israel, and when Eytan turned six, they decided to return to Turkey. Ipeker is a member of Istanbul’s Jewish community. He studied filmmaking in Boston and New York. The Pageant is his debut feature film. This is what Eytan says about his directorial work: “In a world whe…

Known For

Burning DaysBurning Days · 2022
Burning Days
6.82022
MovieDramaThriller
With the mayoral election approaching, the newly-appointed state prosecutor of a small town suffering from a water supply crisis gradually descends into trouble after a young local woman is raped.
Hold StillHold Still · 2024
Hold Still
2024
MovieDocumentary
Hold Still follows two timelines. The first takes place in the present, from 2018, when shooting began, to 2022, when the Dargeçit case ended in acquittal. The second one dates back to October 29, 1995, when eight people disappeared in custody in the Dargeçit district of Mardin, and to 2013, 2014 and 2016, when the bones and clothes of the disappeared people were found in different wells in the region.
The AvalancheThe Avalanche · 2023
The Avalanche
2023
MovieDocumentary
Loosely inspired by Stefan Zweig’s novella, in which playing chess is depicted as a means of surviving fascism, The Avalanche recounts the events of the Armenian genocide, still contested by the Turkish state. Pinar Öğrenci uses archives and present-day footage of the region to uncover the traumas left by the Armenian people on their landscape and their memories.
A GiftA Gift · 2012
A Gift
2012
Movie
A woman walks into an antique shop to give away a teddy bear...
Otherwise in IstanbulOtherwise in Istanbul · 2024
Otherwise in Istanbul
2024
MovieDocumentary
Otherwise in Istanbul is a performative documentary about dancer-choreographer Mihran Tomasyan; through a portrait of Tomasyan, the film also chronicles life in Istanbul in recent history through his personal archive.
Mimaroğlu: The Robinson of Manhattan IslandMimaroğlu: The Robinson of Manhattan Island · 2020
Mimaroğlu: The Robinson of Manhattan Island
5.82020
MovieDocumentary
At the beginning of the 1960s, İlhan and Güngör Mimaroğlu moved from İstanbul to New York to start a new life. With a keen interest in avant-garde music, İlhan Mimaroğlu went on to become a leading composer of the nascent field of electronic music with his work at Columbia University, while Güngör Mimaroğlu would show an exemplary political stance at the forefront of the peace protests that took the 1960s by storm. "Mimaroğlu" is the story of a unique pair of spirits that have complemented each other in many ways.
Unmade BedUnmade Bed · 2015
Unmade Bed
2015
MovieDrama
It's a quiet morning and a middle-aged woman is lying on the bed, watching her sleeping husband's back.
Labour Power PlantLabour Power Plant · 2019
Labour Power Plant
8.02019
MovieDrama
A new production center, maybe set in an undetermined future. What is being produced here? We shall find out by following the given traces. Two pairs of hands trying to untangle themselves. A human sheep virtually cut into pieces. A warm welcome to the authors and actors of their lives. Stories being told, their narrators dissected. When the gates open, those leaving Labour Power Plant have been made fit for the demands of the labour market. The next production cycle begins… People with their own wills, interests, and desires are being equipped with the different physiological, cognitive, psychological, and social core competencies to transform them into human resources. Meanwhile, the management is introducing new methods to enrich the products with the innovative features of ‘self-evaluation’, ‘self-optimisation’, and, most importantly, ‘self-fulfilment’. A series of interventions are performed, leading to an assembly that may appear strange at first sight.

Filmography

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Labour Power PlantLabour Power Plant · 2019
Labour Power Plant
8.02019
MovieDrama
A new production center, maybe set in an undetermined future. What is being produced here? We shall find out by following the given traces. Two pairs of hands trying to untangle themselves. A human sheep virtually cut into pieces. A warm welcome to the authors and actors of their lives. Stories being told, their narrators dissected. When the gates open, those leaving Labour Power Plant have been made fit for the demands of the labour market. The next production cycle begins… People with their own wills, interests, and desires are being equipped with the different physiological, cognitive, psychological, and social core competencies to transform them into human resources. Meanwhile, the management is introducing new methods to enrich the products with the innovative features of ‘self-evaluation’, ‘self-optimisation’, and, most importantly, ‘self-fulfilment’. A series of interventions are performed, leading to an assembly that may appear strange at first sight.

Editor

DriftingDrifting · 2022
Drifting
2022
MovieDocumentary
Watching the dramatic changes in Istanbul’s urban texture, our eyes are drawn to two young men. Ferhat, an unappointed teacher from Mardin (a city on the Türkiye-Syria border,) and his cousin Emrah, an aspiring teacher, work as bricklayers in construction sites, just like their grandfathers and fathers had been doing for decades. They are obliged to this job until a better option becomes available. Overwhelmed with concerns over their future and the tough working conditions, they both dream of a different life, hoping to break the vicious cycle of construction work. From workers’ dormitories to protests and occupation of construction sites, we get glimpses of their lives, hearing stories of struggle, resistance and solidarity, against the backdrop of a city in transformation.

Editor

OvertimeOvertime · 2011
Overtime
7.72011
MovieDocumentary
Istanbul, today. The city has become one big machine that pulls people apart. Through the streets of the city echo the voices of young male and female workers. The harsh reality of an uncertain economic phase is felt in each segment of what is left of the Turkish society class structure. A Kurdish girl stands up against her family rules and tradition. The last young member of a diminished clan remembers the past ruefully. A child worker is forced to support his family since he is the only one who earns some money. A young unemployed male sells himself to tourists in front of the Blue Mosque. His body is the last working tool he is left with. Torn between the West and the East, Istanbul becomes the city symbol of a world that can neither go back nor (yet…) step forward.

Editor