Darkroom

Asli Baykal / Türkiye / 2023 / Czech Premiere / 14 min.

synopsis

The film was shot in a region of Turkey near the borders with Iraq and Syria, an area that is “a melting pot of those fleeing war zones, where people of different origins meet: Assyrians, Iraqis, Kurds, Arabs, Armenians and Turks”. And there are also a surprising number of children running around with analogue cameras. Their gaze, transmitted onto celluloid, transforms a space of unstable contours into a backdrop for great stories and poetic games. The titular darkroom is thus the place where everyone returns regularly to witness the miracle of an image emerging from developer solution as a result of the combined action of creativity and light.

“Children roam the area, looking at the world through the viewfinders of analogue cameras, in an intimate vision of the medium as a form of play and a way to forge an alternate reality in a conflict zone.”

Source: MoMA

biography

Asli Baykal is a Turkish filmmaker who now lives and works in New York, where she attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. During her studies, she interned with Martin Scorsese and Darren Aronofsky. She has directed music videos for notable music personalities such as Karen O and Princess Nokia.