ROMANCE in ISTANBUL
Director / Script Writer: Yavuz Özkan
Producer: Aycan Çetin
Cast: Ali Murat Erengül, Meriç Benlioğlu, Bülent Alkış, Nil Günal, Pınar Alabora, Erdoğan Aydemir, Tanya Djaziri, Koray Onur
Narrator: Yetkin Dikinciler
Dubbing: Tülay Bursalı (Aliye Berger), Yetkin Dikinciler (Carl Berger)
Cinematography: Sinan Güngör
Synopsis
Istanbul , the place where the civilizations gathered and merged for centuries. Kalkedon, Byzantion, Augusto Antonio, Constantinople . But no matter how you describe it with, there is always a part of Istanbul that remains untold. You need to tell the secret of this city. its mysteries, spell, blues, enthusisam and ofcourse the glory that flows inside from all those centuries.
There were such loves experienced in this city that has changed the course of history.
When we chase the traces of these love; they bring us to the society, politics, culture, art and the mentality of the time they were experienced. Like looking at Hagia Sophia we see the biggest sacred structure of the Eastern Roman and the architectural glory in its magnific dome built in one piece.
We know the history of how it turned into a new form of life with its minarets after it was plundered and wrecked by the Crusaders.
But without knowing the people who started Hagia Sophia, Istanbul is unfinished. Without the love of Justinian and Theodora would Hagia Sophia exist? In our first story we look hundreds of years back and see a love that changed the destiny of Justinian, the emperor. The love of Justinian and Theodora.
Justinian married to Theodora who was a prostitute at that time even though there were people in the palace who opposed. But he changed the law and married her. They faced hard times , rebels with the other laws that Justinian made but Justinian got over them with his love for Theodora. After putting down the revolts they took action to reconstruct a more magnificent structure than the Hagia Sophia church which was wrecked during the rebel. The construction ended after five years in 537.
Justinian and Theodora were amazed by the magnificence of it. It was the worlds biggest temple at that time.
Our second story is about Kanuni Sultan Solomon’s love for Hurrem Sultan. Hurrem, was a slave brought to the Harem of the Ottomon palace. She was very different from other girls in the palace. Soon Kanuni got aware of it and fell in love with her. Although there were oppositions kanuni got married to Hurrem. Kanuni wrote letters to her, mostly poems during the longings that the wars caused.
Their love changed the Ottomon History.
Our third story is about Mimar Sinan (Architect Sinan) and Mihrimah Sultan. Mimar Sinan constructs a mosque for Mihrimah Sultan in 1548.
The siloutte of the mosque in Uskudar resembels a woman whose skirt is touching the floor and 14 years later Mihrimah Sultan asked him to do another mosque in which he did a unique masterpiece with the light effects of colors.
The fourth story is the strange love between Medea and Jason. The love Medea had for Jason mentally forced her to kill people including her brother. She even turned against her father who was the Georgian King. But nothing stopped her from protecting her love even after Jason fell in love with another woman.
The fifth story is Aliye Berger and musician Carl Bergers love. Without any information we could explain this shortly with Aliye Berger’s own words: “life tought me things that no other painter or writers did. I cant answer if they ask me what it is. I got affected from a flower I looked, a persons face I know, or a word he tells me, a morning light, a window I look from but mostly from an adventure we call life which hugs all these. And love, affection… even deaths couldn’t kill the love I have .”
As a result we can say that, to understand the multicultural, historical and the capital of two continentals we need to chase the trace of the marks that people left here. When we chase those marks we that they are mostly formed with the love experiences of people who have lived here. Without understanding these, it is hard to understand Istanbul . It will certainly be left untold.