Siren's Call

Welcome to the New Istanbul - a massive concrete jungle feeding on chaos and hypocrisy, with its inhabitants at the end of their tether. Tahsin is a burnt-out architect suffocated by his existence in this very city. One night he encounters an old friend, Siren, who is a transformed woman now living on the untouched southern coast of Turkey where she does organic farming. Enchanted, he decides to leave his decrepit town and follow the “call of the siren.” He packs a small suitcase, bids his goodbyes at work, and heads out for the airport for his last exit. One traffic mishap leads to another, and he finds himself penniless and phoneless in an enraged Istanbul district at the height of its gentrification and urban renewal process. What’s more, this “war-zone” is none other than the place where Tahsin’s own high-rise project is being built. (Santa Barbara International Film Festival)