SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN

SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN, 1996

Turkey | 35mm, Color, 76’ | Turkish

Cast:Ahmet Uğurlu, Tuncel Kurtiz, Ayşen Aydemir

The melancholic story of a car thief who loves automobiles. Mahsun is a homeless, jobless and lonely outcast who dwells around Rumelihisarı. His only friends are fishermen. He is always backed up by Reis, even for paying his debts to the teahouse. Mahsun survives by stealing cars, which are his only passion in life. He steals them at night and drives around until morning only to put them back where he found them. Often he also washes and cleans them with a weird enthusiasm, as if caressing them... When he falls in love with a junkie girl Mahsun’s whole world changes; a naïve world which this new passion will topple over...

“In the 90s, the chaotic universe in which we wallowed seemed to be hanging on its last hinges. Somersault in a Coffin marks a turning point in Turkish cinema also in terms of identifying this inbetweenness and the state of not belonging anywhere. Not only did Derviş Zaim lead the way in showing that guerrilla filmmaking ‘among friends’ was possible, he also placed the character of the ‘neighborhood outcast’ on a pedestal as the ‘most marginal’ lead role in Turkish cinema.” -Esin Küçüktepepınar