LO-FI

Director: Alican Durbaş

Producer: Ipek Erden

Production company: Vayka Film

Country: Turkey

On a morning when everything in the apartment is packed into boxes, EMRE (29) revisits his bittersweet memories of their first days there with DEFNE (29), treading through the marks of their past relationship. By the end of the day, he finally embraces the present as he moves out and moves on.

Synopsis:

It seems like the first day in Emre and Defne’s apartment, full of unpacked cardboard boxes. The morning light spills through the windows, covered by a half-unhinged curtain. Defne cannot find her clothes amidst the boxes and puts on a paintstained t-shirt of Emre’s. She takes down the curtains fully to let more light in. In the meantime, Emre resists waking up, wanting to continue his dreaming. In response, Defne sticks pieces of the cardboard boxes on the windows, leaving the room in full darkness. As she bores a tiny hole in the middle of one, the upside-down panorama of the exterior appears on all surfaces. Not even this magical camera obscura wakes Emre. Gazing at the birds-eye-view of the street reflected on the ceiling, Defne spots the bakery across and leaves to pick up something for breakfast. With a call from the realtor, Emre opens his eyes and for a moment, spots Defne on the ceiling. The images are wiped off suddenly, as a piece of cardboard falls from the window. Emre slips into a warm bath following his morning routine. As Defne returns from the bakery, she finds Emre naked in their new tub. She notices the mark left of a pale bracelet, in contrast to the rest of Emre’s sunburnt skin. The bracelet that they’d gotten to keep as a memory of their vacation, still remains on Defne’s wrist. She asks where Emre’s is and whether he dropped it somewhere or took it off. When he states that it’s only a bracelet, Defne becomes upset. Emre makes an omelet from the leftovers in the fridge, as a way to make it up to Defne. The steam rising from the sizzling pan turns into a snake-like fog covering the whole apartment. The couch in the living room appears from behind the fog, with cushions made into ceilings and walls; it has been turned into a tent. As a kid, entering his couch-tents, Emre would imagine the inside to be his home and the outside to be any world he dreamt of. Now, he finds Defne inside. As the sky darkens, the silence and melancholy of the evening weigh heavier, in contrast with the cheerful breakfast talks of the first morning. Defne messes up the cushions on top of the couch-tent and leaves the apartment to get some air. First, the realtor arrives to put up a rental notice. Then two movers and Emre’s three friends carry out all the boxes and furniture. Emre hands his friend a bag, in which Defne’s few clothes and belongings remain. His friend notices that Emre doesn’t have his bracelet anymore. As the crew is downstairs, Emre checks the empty apartment. He looks back one final time to see Defne with a paint bucket in her hand, painting the walls with excitement, covering the marks of a past relationship. But it is just a mirage, a memory. Emre says goodbye, leaving the apartment. He finally embraces the present as he moves out and moves on. Between the glimmering lights of other apartments, a dark, curtainless window with a rental notice on it is illuminated. The furniture and the boxes are carried into Emre’s new place.

Director: Alican Durbaş

Alican Durbaş got his master’s degree from Yeditepe University Arts and Cultural Management. His short film “Soil” was screened at many international film festivals including Istanbul and Tirana. He was a participant of the Istanbul Biennial 2019-2020 Production and Research Programme to develop his projects. With his script Tessera, he won the best screenplay award at the script 18 contest by Axolotl Magazine within the 39th International Istanbul Film Festival, in 2020. He just finished his short film Distant Mirror, and currently working on his first feature film project “Lo-Fi”. He has attended Talents Sarajevo in 2011 and Berlinale Talents in 2022.

Producer: Ipek Erden

İpek Erden has been in the film industry since 2010, taking various roles in many major productions, both local and international, such as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Two Faces of January, Never Leave Me, The Protector. Ipek founded her independent production company Vayka Film in 2018. As a producer, she was selected to the Sarajevo Talents 2020. She took on the line producer role for filming in Turkey for Aftersun (2022), which won the French Jury Prize as part of the competition of Semaine de la Critique - Cannes Film Festival. Vayka Film’s first feature film A Guide to Living for the Dead, which is in post production, was selected to the Frontières Platform as part of Marché du Film 2022.

Company profile

Vayka Film was founded in 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey, by İpek Erden who has been actively working in the film industry since 2010. It is an independent production company with the aim of producing international independent films of high quality, in addition to providing production services in Turkey for various types of productions including feature films. Vayka Film is currently working on various projects at different stages.