“BAĞLANTI HATASI” AND “GÜNDÜZ VE GECE” PREMIERED AT THE GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL

The Golden Orange Film Festival also dazzles with its gala screenings. On Sunday, October 26, Gökçen Usta's “Bağlantı Hatası” and Ali Altınöz's “Gündüz ve Gece” were screened for the first time.

The 62nd International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival hosted the premiere of many productions. Two of these were “Bağlantı Hatası,” directed by Gökçen Usta, and “Gündüz ve Gece,” directed by Ali Altınöz.

Following the screening of “Bağlantı Hatası”, a film addressing peer bullying, at the Atatürk Cultural Centre (AKM) Aspendos Hall, the film crew answered questions from the audience. The discussion featured director Gökçen Usta, producer Ömer Faruk Sorak, and young actors Asena Keskinci, Derinsu Sorak, Utku Coşkun, Fatih Berk Şahin, Arda Akgenç, Arda Görgen, Oğulcan Çiftçioğlu, and Doğum Özüm.

“Zorbalık da çözümü de ailede başlar”

Director Usta stated that they rewrote the script several times, but each time found that the path led to ‘family’. "In the end, we continued the film with the line, ‘bullying starts in the family’. But the solution also starts in the family! Research shows that children who are bullied or who bully others find a solution when they undergo therapy with their families for at least six months."The director pointed out that the film's title also refers to this, stating, “That's why our film is called Bağlantı Hatası it stems from the breakdown of the bonds of love and communication established within the familyOne of the film's producers, Ömer Faruk Sorak, who is also known as a director, pointed out that peer bullying spreads very quickly, saying, “When I see the difference between the time we made the film and today, I think our film is too soft.” Sorak continued: “In 2006, we made the film ‘Sınav’; it was a film about the anxieties of children taking university entrance exams. But since then, youth in Turkey has changed so much! Now, there is a whole generation that is unaware of its future, living in the moment, and even then, not really living in the moment, but just pretending to.”

“The problem is not economic.”

Sorak stated that they specifically chose to have the film's story take place in a private school rather than a public school, explaining the reason for this choice as follows:

“Because parents who are financially well-off, who believe their responsibility ends when they pay for their children's school and transportation and put pocket money in their pockets, also have this problem. We specifically chose a private school so that parents and children who are not well-off financially would know that their dream of ‘if we had money, we would get an education in schools where such things don't happen’ is largely unrealistic."

“This film should be the pride of Generation Z.”

The young actors who portrayed both the bullies and the victims in the film revealed that their own experiences were not so different from those in the movie:

Asena Keskinci: When I read the script, I said to myself, I have to be Eylül. Thanks to Eylül, I would actually experience catharsis. Because our high school was so similar to the high school in the film... I was one of the victims of that high school; everything from verbal harassment to physical violence had become so normalised at our school. I know very well what this bullying means, what that helplessness in the face of it means, what it means to be unable to share it even with your mother. While people can't even share it with their mothers, we made a film about it. This film should be the pride of Generation Z.

Derinsu Sorak: I think some things had become very normalised even in middle school before high school. It had a huge impact on my education; there was a period when I didn't want to go to school. I even witnessed my close friends being injured due to bullying, and some of them had to change schools. I was excited when I read this story. Because the character Irem is extremely different from me, I also found similarities between us. I didn't bully anyone, but I saw how someone who did bully others struggled with problems; it was nice to see that side of the coin.

Utku Coşkun: Some things were overly normalised at my high school, too. In fact, I changed schools at the end of the year because of this. I had a friend who was being bullied. When I asked, “Why are you doing this?” they said, “We're young, these things happen.” But it wasn't a joke; it could lead to very harmful situations, yet no one cared.

Please make some noise, say “stop!”

Fatih Berk Şahin: I was a bit of a bully in high school. Because I wasn't aware, it's great that we can talk about this topic openly now and that people can realise the harm they unintentionally cause each other; this is very valuable.

Arda Akgenç: Things don't change when you ignore them. I tried to stay silent, to look away, but ignoring it doesn't make it go away; on the contrary, it can sometimes embolden the other side. That's why people need to look out for each other. When certain boundaries are crossed, you need to speak up and say ‘stop’. Please make your voice heard!

Arda Görgen: I wasn't the bully or the bullied. But my close friends were on the bullying side. I was having fun with them. Like Utku said, because I didn't understand.

Oğulcan Çiftçioğlu: Bullying is actually contagious.

Doğum Özüm: I was bullied many times because of my weight. But even then, I never gave in to despair, as I never have.

A film made in the spirit of community cooperation in a village near Izmir: Day and Night

The second gala of the day at Altın Portakal was “Gece ve Gündüz”. Director Ali Altınöz and actors Muttalip Müjdeci, Özgür Cem Tuğluk, and Gülşah Büktür participated in the discussion following the screening at the AKM Perge Hall.

Altınöz, who said that he and Ataberk Kuru, who also edited the film, created the story that tells the hopeless tale of Tufan's efforts to change things after returning to his hometown following his mother's suicide, described the process as follows:

“Ataberk and I started in the Mudurnu district of Bolu, saying, ‘Let's tell a story, let's do something.’ There's an old film called ‘The Secret of the Stones’; we wanted to do something like that. It was a three-year story.”

“I've known Gülşen since childhood.”

Sharing the process of preparing for their roles, actor Muttalip Müjdeci said, "It's an Anatolian story. We worked together as a team, despite the very difficult conditions.“ Meanwhile, Gülşah Büktür explained that she drew on her childhood memories for the character of Gülşen, who suffers from multiple personality disorder and is locked in a barn:” When I was a child in Bilecik, there was a girl who was tied up at home, unfortunately. I was deeply affected; I can never forget the image of that girl. Tied up in the middle of the living room, making noises and so on... I made a connection with the character of Gülşen from that. Gülşen's story was very familiar to me."

Actor Özgür Cem Tuğluk, speaking about the village setting where they filmed, said, "I think most of us here are city dwellers, and in this film, we saw how different the dynamics of village life are. Some things may seem wrong or different to us, but the values within those conditions, within those dynamics, are different. “Regarding the character he portrays, Davur, Tuğluk commented,” Davut also has his own notions of right and wrong, and he's a very sharp, tough character. At his core, he's a good person and tries to do good." When asked about the advantages and disadvantages of filming in the village, the actors were almost unanimous about the advantages of the village. “Actually, in one way it's very good; there's no traffic,” said Müjdeci, whose preference was also influenced by his love of tea: "I didn't want to leave the village coffee shop. I'm a bit of a tea lover; the guy made really good tea! Personally, I really enjoy filming outside Istanbul. It doesn't matter where, as long as it's outside Istanbul.“ Tuğluk supported his co-star, saying, ”It's much easier to get into character. Because you're actually living there continuously, and for me, it's a little easier to get into character." Büktür mentioned that the friendships they built with the women in the village, which developed over time, contributed greatly to their motivation.