Erkan Avci
The movie is about the legendary Turkish "soul singer" Müslüm Gürses. Born into a poor family, Muslum found his redemption in music from the initial trauma that lingered over his musical and personal life as internalizing the grief. He rose through his ashes of shattered dreams like a phoenix. He walked in darkness, sang songs filled with sorrow which stirred people's souls and created a cult following. They were calling him "Baba" (The Father).
The Pit (Çukur), one of the most dangerous neighborhoods of Istanbul, is ruled by the Koçova family. Although they are closely related to crime, the family has its own rules. One of these rules is the prohibition of drugs. But one of the upstarts is determined to break the ban. First he tries to negotiate with the Koçova’s but when his request is rejected he attacks the neighborhood and the family with his power. Just as he thinks that he has put the family on their knees something unpredicted comes up. Yamaç is a man who doesn’t think about tomorrow. One night he meets a beautiful young woman as wounded and dangerous as himself. Her name is Sena. Soon they fall in love and get married. While thinking that they would live “happily ever after”, Yamaç’s family that he believed he had left behind comes between them. As Sena follows Yamaç and runs in the family, they are not aware that their lives will never be the same.
Tahsin is head of the Korludag family, his wealth and great influence in society makes him feared and respected by everyone. There isn’t a place or person in town that he does not control. Tahsin has two children; his son Korhan is a big disappointment to his father, but Sühan, his smart and beautiful daughter, he loves dearly. Korhan’s wife is without success trying to get pregnant. As she fears that Sühan will deliver an heir to the family fortune before herself, she tries to kill her sister-in-law. However, her evil plans are spoiled when a handsome stranger enters the story, saving Sühan's life, becoming her lover and taking his place as the son Tahsin always dreamt of. But what no one knows is that revenge runs in this stranger’s veins and it is no coincidence that he showed up when he did. Will his love for Sühan stop him going ahead with his plan to get vengeance on Tahsin or is it all part of his master plan…?
A feature film about an unusual trio: DANIEL, a German photo-journalist in Istanbul without much knowledge about Middle Eastern values. CAN, a flamboyant, out and proud male belly dancer with lots of love and support from his family, and AHMET born to an eastern and conservative family whose quest for honesty and liberty results in a tragic end. ZENNE Dancer is inspired by true stories.
Loving Istanbul couple Ayşe and Cemal need only a child to complete their life together, but they cannot conceive. To salvage Cemal’s pride, they resort to illegal means to procure a baby. This wild grab at a more perfect life proves their undoing, leading the couple to spiral toward separate futures. The couple's estrangement is intertwined with the film’s parallel narrative, in which a distant and neglectful single mom is raising her little boy, Can.
