SAF

SAF, 2018
Turkey, Germany, Romania | DCP, Color, 102’ | Turkish, Arabic
Director: Ali Vatansever
Cast: Saadet Işıl Aksoy, Erol Afşin, Onur Buldu

Kamil and his wife Remziye are a modest couple living in one of the shanty neighborhoods of the district of Fikirtepe which is undergoing transformation. Kamil has been unemployed for a long time and the couple can barely make ends meet. As their life is about to reach a dead end, Kamil has no choice but to accept a job on a construction site in the next-door neighborhood. He accepts the lower wages given to immigrants and takes the job away from a Syrian refugee who was working illegally. Kamil starts working the night shift while hiding it from those in his neighborhood who oppose urban transformation. Showing us urban regeneration together with Kamil and Remziye’s transformation, Saf is a multilayered film that makes us question many topics including immigration, labor, and morality. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and Ali Vatansever won the Award for Best Film Director at the Bari International Film Festival.