Synopsis
Buğçe embarks on a journey to uncover her past through the stories of uprooted lands and memories. Starting in İzmir, this journey follows the traces of her grandfather Şevket, who was forced to seek refuge in Turkey after the 1974 Cyprus Peace Operation, leading her to the old streets and forgotten homes of Greece. She then travels to Bulgaria, her father’s homeland, where her family settled after being displaced by the assimilation policies targeting the Turkish minority in 1989. These migrations, born of different times and reasons, guide Buğçe in understanding her family’s lost sense of belonging and the reconstruction of their identity. Pursuing belonging, identity, and the homes left behind, Buğçe traces the paths to her grandfathers’ homes and the stories those paths have to tell.
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Directors
Gülten Taranç
Gülten Taranç Gülten Taranç was born in İzmir in 1990. In 2008, she participated in the Rotary Exchange Program and received education in Mexico. She graduated from the Film Design Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University and completed her master’s degree at Marmara University.
Her first feature film Yağmurlarda Yıkansam (2016) received numerous national and international awards, including the Audience Award at the Antalya Film Festival. Her project Salyangozlar was awarded at the Meetings on the Bridge platform. With her documentary Dedemin Evi (2025), she won the Best Mediterranean Film Award at the Trebinje Film Festival.
Since 2018, she has been serving as the founding director of the İzmir International Women Directors Festival and as the president of the Women Directors Association. In addition to her work in cinema, she continues to produce works in the field of music.
Ragıp Taranç
Ragıp Taranç Born in İzmir in 1962, Ragıp Taranç graduated from the Cinema-TV and Photography Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University. He completed his master’s degree with a thesis titled “The Problem of Women and Sexuality in Turkish Cinema After 1980.” With his film Maviden Öte Buselik Sıtma, he received the Proficiency in Art degree, later earned his PhD in 1991, and was awarded the title of Professor in 2025.
His first feature film Bir Düğün Masalı (1993) went down in Turkish cinema history as the first feature film collaboratively produced by academics and students in Turkey. Focusing primarily on documentary cinema, Taranç has explored the cultural memory of İzmir through films such as Kapıkule Haziran, İzmir İzmir, Bazıları Onlara Levanten Diyor, Sadıkbey: Yalıların Dili Olsa, and Giovanni’nin İzmir’i. His film İzmir İzmir received the Best Documentary Award at the Ankara Film Festival. He currently serves as a faculty member at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University.
