Private Project

Afloat

Zeynep arrives from New York City to a small town on the coast of Turkey with her American husband Stephen. She returns to a family that is broken- parents who are divorced, a younger sister who has become estranged.
The troubled family embarks on a week-long sailing trip, meant to be a last chance for Zeynep’s father Yusuf, a dissident journalist being prosecuted by the government, to reconnect with his daughters before going to prison.
Once they are on the boat, gliding across the deep blue water, their sails filled with wind, it seems like the old times. The family is together again – it’s joyful, it’s hopeful. At least in the beginning. As the trip continues we begin to realize things are not as they seem. This is not a simple family reunion, there is something else under the surface. Tensions rise as the family awaits the result of Yusuf’s appeal, and when a young local man further disrupts the delicate family dynamics the trip takes an unexpected turn.

  • Aslihan Unaldi
    Director
  • Aslihan Unaldi
    Writer
  • Elit Iscan
    Key Cast
    Mustang
  • Kamen Velkovsky
    Producer
    Killing of a Sacred Deer
  • Shruti Ganguly
    Producer
    Initials
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 54 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 26, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Turkey
  • Language:
    English, Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Adana Golden Boll Film Festival
    Adana
    Turkey
    September 22, 2023
    Best Supporting Actress Award
  • São Paulo International Film Festival
    São Paulo
    Brazil
    October 19, 2023
    World premiere
    Offical Selection, in competition
  • Mostra de València
    València
    Spain
    October 21, 2023
    European Premiere
    Official Selection (in competition)
  • LA Independent Women Film Awards
    Los Angeles, California
    United States
    Best Female Director Award
  • Sofia International Film Festival
    Sofia
    Bulgaria
    March 21, 2024
    Official Selection (in competition)
  • Istanbul Film Festival
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    April 23, 2024
    Official Selection (in competition)
  • New York CineFest
    New York
    United States
    Winner "Best Film" & "Best Director"
  • Buenos Aires International Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    Official Selection
  • Montreal Independent Film Festival
    Montreal
    Canada
    Competition selection
Director Biography - Aslihan Unaldi

Aslihan Unaldi is a filmmaker born and raised in Turkiye, now based in Brooklyn, NYC. Driven by an interest in exploring intimate personal stories shaped by larger geopolitical currents, Aslihan's work reflects a commitment to portraying the complexity of human experience.
Whether as a screenwriter, director, or both, her work has been showcased at numerous prestigious international festivals. Her award-winning student short, RAZAN, premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2006, while her environmental feature documentary, OVERDRIVE, commissioned by the World Resources Institute, debuted at the Istanbul Film Festival in 2011. In 2015, amidst the Syrian civil war and refugee crisis, Aslihan spent several months on the Turkish - Syrian border filming young freedom fighters from Aleppo in exile. The resulting multichannel video installation, BORDERSONGS, was exhibited at the esteemed art institution Die Angewandte in Vienna.
In September 2021, Aslihan directed her narrative feature, AFLOAT, a family drama on a sailing boat set against the political backdrop of contemporary Turkey. Afloat had its world premiere at the Sao Paulo Film Festival in October 2023 and is currently touring festivals worldwide. Aslihan’s co-writing credits include YOUNG WRESTLERS, which won a special mention at the Berlinale in 2016, and SKATE KITCHEN, which premiered at Sundance in 2018 and was distributed by Magnolia.
Aslihan has been invited to participate in various labs and coproduction markets including the Berlinale Script Station, Film Independent Doc Lab, Thessaloniki Crossroads Co-production Forum, Cinephilia Bound Cannes and ACE Producers Lab. She has received grants and funding from prominent organizations such as the Tribeca Film Institute, Netflix, the Sloan Foundation, Topic, and New York Women in Film and TV. She has also been selected as a “Film Independent Fellow”, and recognized as a “Young Society Leader” by the American-Turkish Society in New York. Currently, Aslihan teaches screenwriting in the graduate film programs at Columbia University and NYU's Tisch School of Arts, where she herself earned her Master of Fine Arts.

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Director Statement

AFLOAT unfolds during a family sailing trip against the complex backdrop of contemporary Turkey. Inspired by personal experiences, the film tells a timeless story: a broken family that tries to reconnect with each other. The sailing trip is a dramatic setup that allows for continuous tension between the characters while the sensual Aegean landscape becomes an extension of their desires. 

Through its three central female characters, Afloat pushes the boundaries of Middle Eastern cinema. It examines themes of class, family, sexuality, and politics from the perspective of liberal, feminist and highly educated Muslim women. Unlike many narratives about the region that portray Muslim women as passive victims, the women in this film are complex, strong and narrators of their own story. The film also gives its female characters full agency to be sexual beings who unabashedly follow their desires.

So often Muslim regions are portrayed as poor, rural, war torn - and although this is one reality it is not the only one. With Afloat I aim to show a different side of my country. Intellectual, affluent characters in beautiful, colorful, sunny landscapes. Struggling with the stuff of every day life: marriage, depression, love, desire. I believe it is vital to present diverse portrayals like these to audiences as they have the power chip away at preconceptions, open minds and allow for new perspectives.

As the government attempts to force an increasingly conservative Islamic agenda on Turkey, this film is a subtle rebellion. Afloat’s subplot is driven by a dissident journalist who is sentenced to prison because of his writings. The crackdown on freedom of expression in Turkey, and elsewhere, concerns me deeply as a filmmaker. Due to this political stance, as well as its feminist perspective and its eroticism, it wasn’t possible to raise funds for Afloat in Turkey, forcing us to shoot on a micro budget. I, the crew, and the cast risked possible persecution in making this film - but we did it willingly as we all strongly believed in the film, both artistically and politically. This approach to the production resulted in a film that conveys the intimacy and rawness of a very personal script that has the power to connect with audiences on a deep emotional level.