Love, Rebellion, Freedom
Beykoz Kundura
June 4, 2023
https://www.beykozkundura.com/event-detail/4june-23
LOVE, REBELLION, FREEDOM: 4 JUNE
— 15:00 —
THE SILENCE OF THE BANANA TREES
Director: Eneos Carka
2022 / 24′ / English, Hungarian; English, Turkish subtitles
Seventy-something Hungarian Mihály Fekete has filled his house in a leafy suburb of Budapest with art works made by his daughter Réka. It’s clear from the way he talks about her that she’s an important part of his life; however, they have not spoken for years. Her decision to keep distance from her father is painful for him, especially since she is ill. Despite his sorrow, he has resigned himself to do as she wishes. At his home, where this film is being shot, and where he and his family grew up, he is able to draw from a reservoir of tangible memories: vacation slides, letters, videos and children’s drawings.
The film eventually becomes a go-between in an attempt to restore a lost connection. Using abstract imagery and patient observations, documentary maker Eneos Çarka evokes a sense of transience, carrying the viewer off in a maelstrom of recollections and feelings that lead to the gripping finale.
FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO
Director: Lynne Sachs
2020 / 103′ / Russian; English, Turkish subtitles
Over a period of thirty-five years between 1984 and 2019, filmmaker Lynne Sachs shot 8 and 16 mm film, videotape, and digital images of her father, Ira Sachs Sr., a bon vivant and pioneering businessman from Park City, Utah. FILM ABOUT A FATHER WHO is her attempt to understand the web that connects a child to her parent and a sister to her siblings. Like a cubist rendering of a face, Sachs’s cinematic exploration of her father offers multiple, sometimes contradictory, views of a seemingly unknowable man who is publicly the uninhibited center of the frame yet privately shrouded in mystery. With this meditation on fatherhood and masculinity, Sachs allows herself and her audience to see beneath the surface of the skin, beyond the projected reality. As the startling facts mount, she discovers more about her father than she had ever hoped to reveal. This exclusive streaming premiere is accompanied by a selection of experimental short films by Sachs, many of which also reflect her probing exploration of family relationships.
— 17:00 —
NELLY & NADINE
Director: Magnus Gertten
2022 / 92’ / French, English, Swedish, Spanish; English, Turkish subtitles
The voice of opera singer Nelly resonates in the middle of Ravensbrück concentration camp. Nelly and Nadine met for the first time at Christmas in 1944. They found each other again after liberation and were to stay together for the rest of their lives. Today, Nelly’s granddaughter Sylvie is about to be confronted with her grandmother’s legacy, locked in a box. The photographs, Super 8 footage and audio recordings as well as the poetic and harrowing diary entries that she comes across describe not only her grandmother’s memories of the camp, but also tell the story of her life with Nadine – a relationship that was never referred to as such by the family. “Nothing is real until it’s socially expressed”, says historian Joan Schenkar in conversation with Sylvie.
Over a period of one year, Magnus Gertten accompanies granddaughter Sylvie on her cautious search, following the traces of the untold stories that are found in the various sources. A moving film about a deep and loving lesbian relationship and the necessity of individual and collective remembrance.
Proceeds from the tickets sold in “LOVE, REBELLION, FREEDOM” screenings will be donated to earthquake relief efforts.
About Beykoz Kundura
With its history that spans over two hundred years, Beykoz Kundura is one of the most significant historical and cultural values of Turkey and operates as a professional venue letting business in addition to hosting innovative, interdisciplinary cultural artworks.
This industrial space which had been active from the Ottoman era to the Republic is a cultural heritage with undisputed value due to its contribution to the Turkish economy. Acting as a melting pot where creative ideas are formed while being inspired by the nostalgia of the former factory space set up in a land of 183 decare, Beykoz Kundura maintains its majestic existence on the Bosporus by expanding its historical cultural values with new ones thanks to its team that is driven with the idea to preserve this heritage.