A DREAM SCHOOL IN THE STEPPES
Tepecik Hayal Okulu

In Competition

Directed by Güliz Sağlam
Doc. / 55 min. / 2014

 

Synopsis

The passion to describe every moment of one’s life through images... Could it give the power to struggle against all kinds of obstacles to someone fascinated by cinema?

Ahmet Uluçay, well-known by his idiosyncratic short films and his only feature film “Boats out of Watermelon Rinds”, had to face the fact that he had a brain tumor, and had his first operation 12 years ago. This documentary film, in accordance with Uluçay’s life between reality and dream, draws us from the half-lit corridors of a hospital to the village, to childhood and dreams, and into the world of a passionate cinéaste.

Selected Festivals and Awards

* Documentarist, Istanbul, Turkey: FIPRESCI Award
* Ankara International Film Festival, Turkey: Best Documentary
* Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey
* London Turkish Film Festival, U.K.
* Aegean Documentary Film Days, Greece

Güliz SAĞLAM

Güliz Sağlam studied at the University of Marmara, Department of Social Sciences and Administration. She has worked as an assistant director in several feature films, and since 2007, she is an independent documentary filmmaker and a video-activist. She was involved in Filmmor Women’s Cooperative between 2005 and 2009. Her work consists of independent documentaries on various issues including immigration, women workers' conditions, women workers' strikes and resistance in different parts of Turkey, as well as solidarity campaigns of women's organizations with women workers' resistance movements, and the encounter of feminists with women labour, lgbti and feminist activism.

Filmography

A Dream School in the Steppes (2014)
Women’s Peace Conference (short video, 2013)
As If We Were Equal (2012)
The Zone (2010)
Women on Strike (2010)
Like a Bird In a Cage (2009)
Women Act For Peace (short video, 2009)                                                                                  
What’s Honor? (Filmmor Women's Cooperative - co-director, 2008)
Far Away From Home (2004)