OTHERWISE IN ISTANBUL (BAZEN HEP BİRLİKTE), 2024

Türkiye | DCP, Color, 74’ | Turkish
Director: Didem Pekün

Documentary filmmaker, video artist, and academic Didem Pekün's first feature-length documentary Otherwise in Istanbul presents a portrait of Istanbul through the performance recordings of dancer and choreographer Mihran Tomasyan--one of the founders of the Çıplak Ayaklar Kumpanyası dance company--and the archives he collected for years. The film, which shines through with its performative structure, questions the relationship of the body with the political and the concept of belonging by tracing improvisation and choreography with the archival materials that Tomasyan shares from his family history. By doing so, it presents a hopeful perspective.