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Genre: Culture & society, Drama
Director: Asli Özge
Director: Asli Özge
Cast: Fikret Portakal, Murat
Tokgöz, Umut Ilker
The film, which is based on the real lives of three men, with Fikret Portakal and Umut İlker playing themselves, was originally intended to be a documentary film, but after an extensive research period in Istanbul starting in 2006, Özge along with director of photography Emre Erkmen got to know the main characters, who are working around the bridge, and decided to write a script based on the protagonists' own stories.
At certain times of the day I traveled many times from the European side of Istanbul to the Asian side crossing the Bosporus Bridge, where there is a continuous gridlock. Often while I was sitting in the car, I photographed the illegal street hawkers, who sell to the bored drivers bananas, pretzels, water, flowers.... I recognized that police, shared-taxi drivers and street hawkers are the ones, who are working directly at the bridge. It is a kind of microscopic view of Turkey through the social statuses of order-illegal-private. After a while I thought I am always passing them by, why don't I go home with them once. Then I began to get to know the real protagonists.Aslı Özge.
In April 2008, during the development period, the was entered into the Pitching du Réel at Visions du Réel Festival, and in November 2008 a rough cut was entered into the Rough Cut Pitching at the International Film Festival Amsterdam, co-producer Mete Gümürhan from Rotterdam-based Kaliber Film subsequently joined the production, which was completed in April 2009.
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