ORAY

ORAY, 2019
Germany | HDD, Color, 100’ | German, Turkish
Director: Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay
Cast: Zejhun Demirov, Deniz Orta, Cem Göktas

In his first feature film, Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay depicts the story of a young man, who is trying to cope with adjustment problems and a crisis of faith. As he tries to become a better person, Oray struggles with his dark past. Being a good Muslim and a perfect husband is his biggest dream. But this dream is shattered one day when Oray, in the heat of an argument, calls his wife Burcu a ‘talak’, which means empty. The imam at his neighborhood mosque tells Oray that he has to leave his wife for three months as punishment for his behavior. Oray decides to use this time to start afresh, and heads to Cologne. Oray won the Best Debut Film award at Berlinale, and was praised for dealing with the subject matter with an almost documentary-like realism.