Martina Priessner

A client enjoys an shave.

Germany, November 1992. In a racist attack, three of İbrahim Arslan’s family members perish in a fire. Thirty years later, İbrahim discovers thousands of letters of solidarity, forgotten in the city archive. We accompany the family as they navigate their profound trauma.

In a dilapidated village in south-eastern Turkey, a Syrian Orthodox nun endures alone with her animals. However strong the hostility of her predominantly Muslim neighbourhood may be: she won’t be driven out, for she has sworn to protect the church and not to leave the sacred place. This quietly filmed observation of everyday life focuses on an isolated woman who carries the pain of a whole community inside her.

The lives of four Turks born in Germany but now living in Istanbul.