Film Commission Torino Piemonte

My name is Fatma and I am the second of five children. I left Istanbul five years ago to come to Italy and study photography. I “escaped” from my family.
Distance is a pain but my greatest fear is that of having to describe, for my parents, the life I lead here; a life so divergent from their traditions. Even today my parents and I do not discuss the reality of my life in Turin, my relationship with Davide and the fact that we live together.
My photographic work is drenched with tormented representations of myself, squeezed under the heavy weight of traditional arranged marriages and prenuptial virginity. I could never show these photos to my family.
Davide and I know that this situation cannot go on for much longer. The need to break the news to my parents is impelling. We have to inform my father, stuck between desire for progress and traditional ties, of our intention to get married and start a family.
Next summer we will announce our wedding plans, however, before then, I would like to spend some time both with my relatives in Istanbul and with those who still live in the Eastern village. My Kurdish family is like a large tribe and, as in every tribe, most of the decisions concerning single individuals are made collectively, following ancient principles. My family’s contradictions are an honest mirror of what Turkey is going through in her mid-air suspension between her two souls, between the Western world and the Middle East (Orient). At the end of this itinerary Davide will reach me in Istanbul where we will officially announce our engagement.