The Smell of Money

Basri, 55 year old, every day walks for miles along the tracks working as a railroad watchman. His nagging thought is finding his son. Eighteen years ago, while the boy was studying at the university in Istanbul, the police took him into custody for antigovernment activities. Then, he mysteriously disappeared.

May 22nd, 1963. Unhappy with the existing social and political situation in Turkey, a group of military officers has planned a coup d’état to take down the government in Ankara. Meanwhile in Istanbul, their conspirators have undertaken the vital mission of taking over the National Radio station and making a formal announcement about the coup. But nothing goes to plan. Faced with a number of obstacles, including a sudden rainstorm, the absence of the radio station technician, a betrayal, the lack of feedback from Ankara and their very own inefficiency, the conspirators scramble to keep their plan on track and announce the success of the coup – that is, if the coup in the capital has taken place at all.

A painter with a turbulent history, fiercely committed to his ideals and still averse to settling down despite his 70 years; a lawyer who packed in his job after suffering a heart attack and now pursues a quiet life looking after his pet snail; a doctor already disenchanted with his profession and now discarded by his wife; a career woman braving life on her own, who has made loneliness a life style. These characters are all patrons of Black & White, an Ankara bar that has been around for 25 years, and in a sense the bar is their last haven. The owner, meanwhile, is the irritable, easily offended but utterly lovable Faruk... Black & White is a film about the awareness of growing old, friendship, sensitivity and the finer details of life.

When four estranged siblings reunite in their remote Anatolian village for their sister’s wedding, long-buried memories begin to resurface. As the celebrations unfold, two of them are drawn back into the unbreakable bond they once shared. Family secrets slowly come to light, leading them on a journey through grief and the invisible ties between generations.