Azra Deniz Okyay's Ghosts is exclusively showing on MUBI starting April 17, 2021 in many countries in the series Viewfinder.
Just like Beat Generation's Jack Kerouac, I began writing Ghosts with the sound of the helicopter from Apocalypse Now in my mind. While things around me were changing almost in lightspeed, I wanted to archive the moment. Like a war photographer, I needed to take many pictures in order to understand what we were going through.
Ghosts initially drives from my own personal experiences. I worked on my film for 5 years, jumping out of my bed every morning, in order to find some light. It’s about the new generation of people in Turkey from various and sometimes wildly different subcultures. Each character is struggling for personal freedom and expression, attempting to realize themselves and resolve their problems through art, and ultimately each using their drive and ambition to achieve that goal. These individuals coincide casually in the chaos of the city, unexpectedly coming together through certain actions and events. In a wider sense, their experiences also touch upon more global social issues, for instance, freedom of speech and women’s rights. This, for me, is a story of Istanbul’s lost generation, beleaguered by the political, religious and economic uncertainties of the present society and each seeking to find and create their own survival mechanism in a modern and chaotic Turkey. I've been inspired by Naomie Klein's Shock Doctrine and how we can, or cannot survive from one shock to another. And I transferred this dynamic into my characters and the structure, both in scriptwriting and in shooting.
The technique of this film, the camera work and the editing style, are not something achieved overnight. It is fed firstly by the scriptwriting process and my previous experiences as a filmmaker and video artist for years. The script for me was also an expose on editing and mood of the film. I mostly work on different mathematics of storytelling. I had the chance to try this for my short film Little Black Fishes. I used similar tools that I developed in video art works, especially for my short documentary Sulukule Mon Amour which taught me to observe people whom I write about. I was combining all the small details and experiences I acquired through the years. That's why working on Ghosts was like weaving a carpet for me. Not only the script is built upon small motifs interwoven, but also the style becomes a ‘whole’ with smaller details.
I worked on this project alone for a long time. When I found Dilek Aydin, my talented producer, we realized that we share the same energy and excitement to realize this film manifesto—our own baby. To be able to reflect this manifest in execution, we had to work with the most talented technical crew. The DOP Barış Özbiçer and Editor Ayris Alptekin worked in coordination so that I could see all the limits I could go. Planning the execution early, helped me a lot to have freedom on set, especially when it comes to improvisation of actors. This technique also helped us in the sound-sphere of the film. I asked Ekin Fil who scored the original music to get a balance between the ever-interrupting helicopter sound and the music. The final music was a counter-attack to the helicopter, and the composed music was in the same note with the helicopter sound to create a harmony.
Of course, making the film was also challenging. Since we had little money for production, I felt like I had to calculate every step, and every possible risk, since losing one day even an hour would cost us a lot. We had only 17 days to shoot 30 different locations. For me, it felt like bringing the whole team to a huge mountain, like Mount Everest. Due to our previous hard work, when the shooting day arrived I was ready with my team beside me. Since we were going to shoot a lot of dark scenes, we had a fitting camera, Red Gemini, and I was ready to go for an experimental way of lighting, such as lighting the scene with mobile phones or hand flashlights.
Due to the real locations we chose, we also had some challenging situations. One of the locations was Fikirtepe, where urban regeneration continues to be a problem for residents. While shooting there, some locations were being destroyed behind us. We were also archiving these real locations being demolished, while I was aiming at archiving my story and my characters. We had also decided to shoot most of the film in an area of İstanbul, Gülensu which was formerly inhabited by political groups. Many young people who grew up there were sent to prison for setting fires or throwing molotovs in the streets, years later we chose as our shooting locations. Hearing the story of the film, the neighborhood immediately accepted us, and we worked with the residents. One resident who spent his teenage years in prison, Gökhan worked in the production. He liked the project a lot and he was our bridge to the neighborhood. We were two young women (me and my producer) who wanted to shoot something, and the neighbors were just eager to help us. This happy relationship couldn’t prevent a police-raid during one of our shooting days where we created a lot of chaos in the main artery of the neighborhood- Extras were running around with torches, there were trash bins set to fire, some other extras were breaking into shops. Of course, all these were pre-planned. Thinking that the riots started again the local police force came to set with 6 armoured vehicles and many gunned men. Even though we had the permits and been shooting in the neighborhood for many days, the police thought the riots started again. (That’s kind of a relief thinking that the scene was realistic). Again, facing them as two young women worked. They were incredibly surprised that these two petit women were behind all this chaos and it was just filming. They were soon relieved and put their guns back. I couldn't get as many takes as I wanted, but it turned out to be one of the most striking parts of the film. The whole team was together in this, and it continued until the end. Now, upon completion, I can say that I made this film "like a woman: curvy, hyperactive, chaotic and colorful way," just like Canan Dağdeviren says for her robots whom she resembles to women.
The biggest metaphor of the film is the country-wide power surge that represents the overall socio-political situation. The film starts in the morning with a big power cut and gradually darkens. But despite this darkness, Ghosts has characters that always bring light and hope. Living in this country sometimes feels like we exist and not exist at the same time. My characters are facing struggles that are bigger than themselves, sometimes they feel invisible and they have to act invisible. That’s why the title Ghosts speaks to the audience of this film through the young people in the film bringing light into an LGBT home concert, or creating options to live in the darkness. Young people always find a way. They are also the light of the society. Theirs is the most beautiful rebellion.
In the very last scene of my film, the youngest character Didem steers in the darkest alley possible, but she still has her light, and her moves. Just like that, I want to show the audience the darkness but I also invite them to find the light and hope—which we always need to move forward. Something we shouldn't forget, hope and courage is contagious.
