Yellow Letters
Filmhuis de SpiegelExpected end time: 22:15 hour
Theater Heerlen - Kleine Zaal
| Normal rate: | € 9,50 |
| Student (met college/schoolpas): | € 7,00 |
| Kind t/m 12 jaar: | € 5,00 |
Credits
Germany, 2026 || 127 minutes
Directed by: Ilker Çatak
Starring: Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas
In Turkish || With Dutch subtitles
Synopsis
When the celebrated actress Derya and her husband Aziz, a director and lecturer, lose their jobs following intervention by the Turkish state, their comfortable life comes to an abrupt end. Together with their 13-year-old daughter, they leave Ankara and move in with Aziz’s parents in Istanbul. There, they try to rebuild their lives. Derya receives an attractive offer and Aziz finds new work, but it soon becomes clear that they cannot simply leave their principles behind.
With *Yellow Letters*, director İlker Çatak (*Das Lehrerzimmer*) creates a poignant drama about censorship, state control and the price of artistic freedom. Remarkably, the film was not shot in Turkey but in Germany: Berlin and Hamburg stand in for Ankara and Istanbul. This lends Çatak’s story a broader significance. Oppression and self-censorship are not confined to a single country or a single border.
