A small film crew arrives in Istanbul from Germany. They have been commissioned to make a film about the city for a small TV channel. One day, in the cutting room, spooling through the footage, the director notices that some shapes and figures are there which he had not seen on the actual day of filming–it seems that his camera had picked up the presence of ghosts. Obsessed about capturing these ghosts, the director passes through this journey from daylight to darkness, from the living city to the city of the past, many aspects of life in Istanbul are touched upon: the destruction and renovation of old neighbourhoods, immigrant workers, resistance to the government, the many diverse religions and communities living in the city, the peculiarly melancholy essence of Istanbul. “There are millions of Istanbuls. Everyone living there has their own version of the city; every visitor finds their own Istanbul. And then, there are the Istanbuls of the past, of the dead. The Istanbul of ghosts. The Istanbul of memory. This is a film that begins as a record of modern, present-day Istanbul.” – Ben Hopkins
[1] Ben Hopkins (born 1969) is a British film director and screenwriter. His 1999 film Simon Magus was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.
His 2008 film, The Market: A Tale of Trade (Turkish: Pazar: Bir Ticaret Masalı) won awards at film festivals in Locarno, Ghent and Antalya, where it was the first film directed by a foreigner to win an award in the national competition.
Selected filmography
Simon Magus (1999)
the Nine Lives of Tomas Katz (1999)
The Market: A Tale of Trade (2008)