Sivas

Shakespeare's darkest tragedy in a modern retelling of family betrayal and horse carriages. Based on a true story, light is shed on the incredible, absurd, striking realities of life and Turkey through the “kingdom of the carriage” in Büyükada.

Turkish film industry has been experiencing a breakthrough in the last ten years. According to 2015 figures, there is a bold uptrend in terms of viewers and film production. Yet without any regulations at work, this growth only made injustices in distribution bigger. While a single cinema chain controls more then 50% of the market, it also started to control distribution and production. In this monopolized environment, there seems to be no country for independent production. With the guidance of producers, distributors, and economists, the film traces the distortion created by the bad economy that has become an obstacle for freedom of choice.

"Fathers and Sons" is a short documentary project of Kaan Müjdeci that was shot in 2012 during the research for director's first feature film entitled SIVAS. Fathers and Sons tells the story of kangal dogs and their owners. Kangal is a breed of shepherd’s dog, unique to the land of Anatolia. The owners fight their kangals and make money off them from bettings. However, they treat and take care of their dogs like their sons, sometimes even better. Even though their sons may get hurt, a father still takes pride in having sent his son to the military, doesn’t he? Fathers and Sons is about the duality of this father-son relationship. But after all, every father would like to be proud of his son.

What happens, when an ordinary family in one of the arguably most advanced cities in the world starts living in two different worlds? What happens, when that fine line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, when a computer game controls the space you live in, re-defines your real life? When a gigantic, green iguana is the only one that can see, how the people around it slowly lose themselves between these different worlds?

A colt born in 2020, officially named “Junior West”, was born with high hopes but lost his mother Triple West shortly after birth. Since he cannot get the breast milk he needs, it is almost impossible for Junior West to become a racehorse. Kaan, Beril and the narrator of our story, three amateur horse owners, enter an unfamiliar community to rescue this orphaned colt, whom they met by chance and fell in love with as soon as they saw him. These three dreamers, who try to find their way by groping their way by adopting this colt that no one believes will run, have nothing but their faith. But is faith enough for success?