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SEARCHING FOR PARADISE is a lyrical personal account of the filmmaker’s search for the lost symbols of a distant and dreamy childhood and through it the reconciliation of Western education and Eastern traditional heritage, self-identity and family ties. Shot primarily in Istanbul and Los Angeles, the film weaves a rich tapestry of history, people and images. |
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"Turks are not European but Turkey is partially in Europe. Turks are not Middle-Eastern but Turkey is partially in the Middle-East..."
"Hugh Pope, author of "Turkey Unveiled", quoted in "Searching for Paradise"
"Searching for Paradise" is a personal documentary about cultural identity. The film follows me from Los Angeles to Istanbul on my search for my memories and roots. Throughout this journey, I explore a possible reconciliation between my Eastern heritage and Western life; self-identity and family ties. Istanbul is the perfect city to explore the theme of cultural identity. Since its formation, Istanbul has had multiple identities and has always been a crossroads where European and Eastern cultures clashed with one another forming a beautiful mosaic. Istanbul is literally divided into Europe and Asia by a strait named the Bosphorus. As Stephen Kinzer, the author of "Crescent & Star", says in the documentary: "...there is no other place in the world, where you can sit with your back to Paris and London and look across a beautiful waterway and know that in front of you the unbroken land mass stretches all the way to Beijing." At the edge of the Middle East and at the heart of the Levant, Turkey is home to a culture that mirrors the Middle Eastern dichotomy: Turks/Arabs and Jews are frequently torn between an Eastern sensibility and a desire for Western acceptance. This cultural dichotomy is at the root of some of the global problems we are facing today.
"Hugh Pope, author of "Turkey Unveiled", quoted in "Searching for Paradise"
"Searching for Paradise" is a personal documentary about cultural identity. The film follows me from Los Angeles to Istanbul on my search for my memories and roots. Throughout this journey, I explore a possible reconciliation between my Eastern heritage and Western life; self-identity and family ties. Istanbul is the perfect city to explore the theme of cultural identity. Since its formation, Istanbul has had multiple identities and has always been a crossroads where European and Eastern cultures clashed with one another forming a beautiful mosaic. Istanbul is literally divided into Europe and Asia by a strait named the Bosphorus. As Stephen Kinzer, the author of "Crescent & Star", says in the documentary: "...there is no other place in the world, where you can sit with your back to Paris and London and look across a beautiful waterway and know that in front of you the unbroken land mass stretches all the way to Beijing." At the edge of the Middle East and at the heart of the Levant, Turkey is home to a culture that mirrors the Middle Eastern dichotomy: Turks/Arabs and Jews are frequently torn between an Eastern sensibility and a desire for Western acceptance. This cultural dichotomy is at the root of some of the global problems we are facing today.
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Winfemme Film Festival, Los Angeles |
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A SELECTION OF FESTIVAL SCREENINGS :
Turkish Film Festival, New York
Ankara Int. Film Festival, Turkey
Nürnberg Int. Film Festival, Germany
Uppsala Int. Film Festival, Sweden
Open Tent Middle-Eastern Film Festival, Los Angeles
COLLEGE AND CONFERENCE SCREENINGS :
UCLA, Brown University, Duke University, NYU, USC
Washington DC, American Turkish Council Conference
Melbourne, Australia, UNESCO Festival
Los Angeles, LA County Museum of Art
Conference of Culture, Vienna, Austria