Bağlar, Kökler ve Tutkular

Antakya 14th International Film Festival / Special Audience Award - Bonds, Roots and Passions / Sunay Terzioğlu / Türkiye

Director - Sunay Terzioğlu
Writer - Ferit Karahan
Director of Photography - Serdar Özdemir
Editing - Ferit Karahan, Aykut Yıldırım, Hakan Hücum, Sunay Terzioğlu
Music - Viktor Forlidas
Art Director - Nanaz Bahram
Producers - Timur Harzadın, Kemal Genel, Sunay Terzioğlu
Cast - Ushan Çakır, Hasibe Eren, Ezgi Yaren Karademir, Baran Can Erarslan

Bonds, Roots and Passions

After surviving the boat accident, Hazel strives to build a future in the country she migrated to. However, in this process, she finds herself caught between cultural values and family obligations. She endeavors to find a balance between the opportunities of modern life and the constraints placed on women's freedom in her own culture. Her family wishes to arrange her marriage, but Hazel's need is to feel more liberated and accepted.
Hamza, after surviving the boat accident, receives a prison sentence. During his time in prison, he becomes alienated from his friends and homeland due to his emotions and experiences. For these reasons,
and plans to establish a new life there. However, his yearning to seek his roots again in his adopted country, along with his struggle to redefine his identity, brings an inner conflict.
Afghan Khaled, after surviving the boat accident, strives to make a living by shepherding in his village. He falls in love with the village headman's daughter and finds the meaning of his life in her. However, there are significant obstacles to overcome for him to marry her. The village traditions are not very inclined to accept an outsider, and Khaled is unsure of what he needs to do to marry the headman's daughter.

The stories of these three characters revolve around universal themes such as migration, identity, family bonds, and love. Each of them confronts unique challenges and conflicts. By delving deeply into the characters' internal struggles and pivotal moments in their lives, the film showcases the universality and complexity of the human experience to its audience.

Director Biography - Sunay Terzioğlu

Sunay Terzioğlu was born on August 22, 1983, in the town of Krumovgrad, located near the Greece-Bulgaria border. He completed his elementary education both in Bulgaria and Turkey. This experience gave him the opportunity to observe both cultures from an early age.
During his childhood, his passion for cinema was shaped by a "traveling cinema" that screened films across various towns in Bulgaria. In 1992, at the age of nine, he migrated to Turkey with his family. His love for films never waned, and he continued his education in this direction.
After completing his middle and high school education, he enrolled in the film school of his dreams. In 2003, he began studying at the Department of Cinema and TV at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University and successfully graduated in 2009. After entering the film industry, he worked on numerous important projects and continues to be active in the sector.
Throughout his career, he has focused on producing quality and watchable works in the cinema and television world.

Director Statement
In the years when I lived in Bulgaria, during my childhood, my brother used to take me to mobile cinema screenings. I would usually fall asleep by the end of the movies, so I don't remember the endings very well. At the end of the night, my brother would take me home. That's how my journey into cinema began.
In this film, the motivation I focused on in terms of actor direction in the real world I created was for the actors to play not like a performance but by feeling the reality of the character, and in this sense, I find the film quite successful. I expect my characters to teach the audience what the characters in my own existence have taught me.
One of my motivations for filming in Izmir spatially is that I find Izmir very cinematic, and I believe that cities play a crucial role in film production. This city, as I saw in my childhood, provides me with a correct narrative path in terms of storytelling in the field of cinema.