Private Project

BYSTANDERS

Some evening, a woman trying to return her home is attacked in the street of her apartment.
It's high time for the neighbours of the woman who witnessed the attack to question themselves

  • Sezgin Sönmez
    Director
    Bir-İz (Documentary), The Hiding (Short Movie), Sleep Tight (Short Movie), Peşinde (Short Movie)
  • Ersin Suni
    Director Of Photography
  • Emel Hacer Yayla
    Writer
  • Berk Başar
    Producer
  • Sezgin Sönmez
    Producer
  • Burcu Tutkun Turan
    Key Cast
    "Lover's Mom"
  • Ceren Ugursın
    Key Cast
    "Journalist"
  • Devrim Özder Akın
    Key Cast
    "Musician"
  • Emel Hacer Yayla
    Key Cast
    "Victim"
  • Berk Başar
    Key Cast
    "Attacker"
  • İlkay Altıntaş
    Key Cast
    "Father"
  • Özlem Akdoğan
    Key Cast
    "Mother"
  • Seval Özgür
    Key Cast
    "Homeowner"
  • Tufan Aydın
    Key Cast
    "Lover"
  • Zeki Eren Özdemir
    Key Cast
    "Child"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Commune Problems, Short, thriller
  • Runtime:
    13 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 17, 2024
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Turkey
  • Language:
    Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Sezgin Sönmez

Director Sezgin Sönmez was born in 1986 in Eskişehir. He graduated from Erciyes University, the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema in 2011. He made 6 short films while he was a student. With one of them, he won the second prize in the "AB'ye Genç Bakış (Young Look into EU)" competition held in the program "Abbas Güçlü ile Genç Bakış", broadcasted on Kanal D screens in 2008. After graduating, he worked for Eskişehir's local TV channels for a while.

In 2014, he started to work in the Directorate of Press and Public Relations Office of the Odunpazarı Municipality. He completed the documentary “Bir-İz”, which he conducted jointly with Odunpazarı Municipality, in 2017. The documentary, which can be streamed on Youtube, has reached 25 thousand views and focuses on the effects of the 1993 Sivas massacre on people.

In 2017 and 2018, he conducted the Eskişehir leg of the "IF Square" event organized by the Istanbul Independent Film Festival and was responsible for the screening and organization of the films. In 2019, he made a 20-minute short film called "Saklantı” which focused on the subject of child abuse, in cooperation with Odunpazarı Municipality and TOGAPT Organization.

In the same year, he completed another short film named "Iyi Uykular", depicting the effects of global warming and drought through a dystopian lens. “Iyi Uykular” was included in the official selections of several domestic and international film festivals and also was screened in many different movie theatres of Istanbul.

Since 2019, Sönmez has been working as an instructor in the short film workshops of the Odunpazarı Municipality Youth Center and within the scope of these workshops, he completed his latest short film "Peşinde" with his students in 2022.

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