Private Project

Debt

Tufan who works at a small print shop lives in Eskişehir with his wife Mukaddes and daughter Simge. Huriye, their lonely neighbour next door falls ill one night. A doctor recommends that she shouldn’t stay on her own. Tufan takes pity on Huriye, who has no family to turn to, and decides to host her at his house. Through fear and anxiety he experiences Tufan’s kindness is put to test.

  • Vuslat Saraçoğlu
    Director
  • Vuslat Saraçoğlu
    Writer
  • Mete Özkurt
    Producer
  • Serdar Orçin
    Key Cast
    "Tufan"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 35 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 5, 2018
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Turkey
  • Language:
    Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.85
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • İstanbul film Festival
    İstanbul
    Turkey
    April 16, 2018
    World
    Golden Tulip Best Film
  • Istanbul
    Turkey
    Best Actress, Best Editing
  • Carthage Film Festival
    Tunisia
  • Kerala Film Festival
    Kerala
    India
    Asia
  • Malatya
    Turkey
    November 12, 2018
    Malatya
    Best First Film
  • Goteborg Film Festival
    Göteborg
    Sweden
    January 27, 2019
    Scandinavia Premiere
    New Voices
  • Moskova film Festival (2019)
  • San Francisco Film Festival
Distribution Information
  • Vuslat Saraçoğlu
Director Biography - Vuslat Saraçoğlu

Vuslat Saraçoğlu graduated from Istanbul Bilgi University with a degree in Sociology and International Relations. She went on to study Modern Turkish History at Boğaziçi University, but discontinued her course at the thesis stage. In 2010, she attended the Directors Across Borders section of the Yerevan Golden Apricot Film Festival and the Talent Campus of Sarajevo Film Festival. Her film and literary reviews have been published in various magazines. Her short, KAKOFONI was screened at numerous national and international festivals. In 2013, Saraçoğlu's documentary on the fans of a popular singer, THE CHILDREN OF MUSLUM BABA was shown in many festivals. Vuslat was among the cast and worked as the production coordinator in the feature film "WHY CAN'T I BE TARKOVSKY...” (2014). Her first feature DEBT was granted with post- production award at Antalya Film Festival 2017 and The Golden Tulip for the Best Film in Istanbul Film Festival 2018.

Filmography of the Director:
Galata/Galata (2010) Short Film - Actress
Kakafoni/Cacaphony (2011) Short Film - Director
Müslüm Baba'nın Evlatları/The Children of Muslum Baba (2013), Documentary-Director
Neden Tarkovski Olamıyorum/Why Can’t I Be Tarkovsky (2014), Feature Film- Actress, Production Coordinator
Borç/Debt (2018) Feature Film - Director, Writer, Producer

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Director Statement

If we were to ask "what is like to be a bad seed?", I presume that the majority of the society which I live in, would consider the ones who don't look after their parents when they grew old. It is not a coincidence that in some Turkish films from the past, archetypes was created who sent their parents to nursing homes, while crashing on poker tables with a whisky glass in hand. Does a children really obliged to look after her/his own parents ? Many would say "yes, of course". Furthermore, even asking the question can be regarded as a taboo. Questions such as, "couldn't a parent do more evil to his/her child, than a stranger ?" or "isn't it possible for a child to not to spend any given day inside a gloomy room, besides a sick person", wouldn't come to mind in the first place.

Tufan is one of these individuals. A "normal" person who embraces the traditions and values of the dominant culture. Most of his reactions, just in the case of facing these sample questions above, could be defined as instinctive. Just as if he was installed with a mechanism which produces standart, fabricated, memorised emotions or anger. His goodness is likewise. His good behaviours which doesn't require any will or particularity, stays within the frontiers framed by the society, yet these make him feel great about himself.

However, grey zones where standardized reactions fall short, do exist. Tufan is a person who finds himself on a path where his supposedly sacrificial behaviours are tested, and being driven away by his hypocrisy and inconsistency, seems inevitable. Casting a glance towards experiences as such, provides ground for thinking on the overwhelming notion of goodness, creating scapegoats, being righteous just because standing on the side of the powerful, all imposed almost religously by the dominant culture. For these reasons, "Debt" matters much to me.