Dialogues with Zuleyha

The film is very personal, because it is based on something that happened to me in 2016. Zuleyha played for me when I was in bad shape following a difficult surgery in a hospital in Prague (Czech Republic). Our music therapy sessions took place online, because Zuleyha is based in Selçuk (Turkey).

After I recovered from the disease, we finally managed to meet in Baku (Azerbaijan) where I took a long interview with her trying to understand her method. After the interview, I realized that I wanted to make a film about this lady and reflect on my experience.

With the help of this film, I wanted to learn more about music therapy and convey my experience to the audience. My approach however is more poetic than scientific. That means that I am not trying to persuade the audience with scientific facts about music therapy. Instead, I concentrate on Zuleyha’s charisma and the atmosphere of the music she creates and how I and other people perceive it.

My main inspiration comes from the films of French filmmakers Vincent Moon and Stephan Talneau. Vincent Moon's style is defined by a non-narrative approach and by playing with the atmosphere that is created by the music itself. To play with the atmosphere means to unite the style of the film with the music being played. It is when a filmmaker (a film) and the music that is heard from the screen become one entity. Stephan Talneau's (SAZ Film) style also influenced me in the sense that I tried to give meaning to the music, define its role in our lives and tell a story—the story of me and Zuleyha.