DİYAR

In Competition

Directed by Devrim Akkaya
Doc. / 71 min. / 2014

Synopsis

Devrim is a yoga instructor living in Istanbul. She takes part in a form of therapy that investigates the effects of family traumas, especially of migration, child death, murder and rejected individuals, on future generations. Here, she discovers that one of the reasons for her feelings of loneliness, lack of belonging, and resistance to starting her own family is entwined with her great-grandfather;  he was an Armenian orphaned as a child and subsequently raised by Devrim's family. He eventually married the family's eldest daughter. But his Armenian identity has never been sufficiently investigated. When Devrim shares this with her family, she finds out that her great grandfather Yusuf was buried in an unknown spot in an anonymous mass cemetery...thus begins the story of this film.

Selected Festivals and Awards

* Documentarist, Istanbul, Turkey
* CineDoc Tiblisi, Georgia
* Golden Apricot International Film Festival, Yerevan, Armenia
* Production support award from ATCP, held parallel to 31th Istanbul Film Festival

Devrim AKKAYA

Born in 1975 in Malatya, Devrim Akkaya studied Statistics in Mimar Sinan University. She is a yoga instructor. “Diyar” is her first film project as a  director. In recent years, she has taken many courses on story and  screenplay writing. She worked as production and art direction assistant in various film projects. She assisted in the screenplay writing and shooting of the film, “Do Not Forget Me Istanbul”, produced by Hüseyin Karabey and co‐produced by Asi Film. She was the producer of the short film “Night and Day” directed by Erdal Bilici. She believes that  more stories and films should be told by women.