Duet

Mısra and Defne are two close friends and duet partners, who met each other through synchronized swimming, with their totally different characters. After failing to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, they set a shared goal, the 2020 Olympics. While struggling to make this dream happen, they try to cope with numerous problems such as the poorly run federation and the Covid-19 pandemic. Fighting for success in a suppressive country for women and LGBTI+, the duet partners will have to give a hard decision whether to keep the fight or to find new paths in life.

  • EKİN İLKBAĞ
    Director
  • İDİL AKKUŞ
    Director
  • EKİN İLKBAĞ
    Writer
  • İDİL AKKUŞ
    Writer
  • ALİ BİLGİN
    Producer
  • Mısra Gündeş
    Key Cast
  • Defne Bakırcı
    Key Cast
  • Anna Yuzhakova
    Key Cast
  • Nataliya MASCHCUK
    Key Cast
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    DÜET
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Sports, Friendship, Politics
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 12 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 1, 2022
  • Country of Origin:
    Turkey
  • Country of Filming:
    Hungary, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Turkey
  • Language:
    English, Turkish
  • Shooting Format:
    HD, Stereo, DCP
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • 59th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival
    Antalya
    Turkey
    October 4, 2022
    Turkish Premiere
    Special Jury Award
  • 10th IndieCork Film Festival
    Cork
    Ireland
    October 3, 2022
    World Premiere
  • 6th mujerDoc Documentary Film Festival on Gender
    Soria
    Spain
    March 7, 2023
  • 42nd IKSV Istanbul Film Festival
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    April 16, 2023
    Istanbul Premiere
    Special Mention Award - National Documentary Film
  • 16th Documentarist Istanbul Documentary Days
    Istanbul
    Turkey
    June 11, 2023
    Johan van der Keuken New Talent Award & Best Editing Award
  • 3. İzmir Film ve Müzik Festivali
    İzmir
    Turkey
    June 18, 2023
  • 7th Cinema D'idea Women Film Festival
    Rome
    Italy
    July 9, 2023
    Italian Premiere
  • 26th Flying Broom Women Film Festival
    Ankara
    Turkey
    June 5, 2023
    Ankara Premiere
  • 35th Girona Film Festival
    Girona
    Spain
    November 12, 2023
    Official Selection
  • 1st Tepebaşı Flying Broom Women Film Festival
    Eskişehir
    Turkey
    October 19, 2023
    Eskişehir
  • 2nd Berlin Turkish Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    December 2, 2023
    German Premiere
Director Biography - EKİN İLKBAĞ, İDİL AKKUŞ

EKİN İLKBAĞ

Born in 1998, in İstanbul. She studied BA Filmmaking at the University of the Arts London. Co-produced and co-directed her first documentary film "Duet", together with İdil Akkuş. She is also a former national synchronized swimmer like the athletes in her film.

İDİL AKKUŞ

Born in 1995, in İstanbul. She completed her cinema BA degree at Istanbul University. She co-produced and edited her first documentary film Duet starting in 2016, together with her co-director Ekin İlkbağ. She is a film editor and former synchronized swimmer.

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Director Statement

As the directors of the film, we are former artistic swimmers. That allows us to tell this story from the inside and relate to our heroes' struggles easily. We have tried to perform this sport for many years in the same pools with our main characters, depending on the same federation and poor management. However, we were not as determined and resilient as Mısra and Defne in terms of keeping up as artistic swimmers, which is almost impossible to maintain in our country. Both as filmmakers and former athletes, we wanted to tell their stories and share our common disappointments and struggles with an audience. When we first started recording Mısra and Defne, they had achieved great success and set a new goal by start working to compete in the Olympics. We got involved in their adventures and started to follow them almost all the time. As we followed them, we held on to the observational documentary style, using archive footage to connect with their childhood and behavioral patterns, plus using their selfie videos to make them a part of this documentary as a narrative. After a while, we realized that this is more of a friendship and camaraderie film rather than just a sports documentary. The most interesting thing was that the two athletes, who acted as a whole in the water while forming a duet for 12 years, were very different from each other in terms of character. We faced this strong difference in almost every scene and it advanced the dramatic structure of the film by creating a theme. Events arising from their oppositions dragged us slowly towards a break up of the duet and in the meanwhile, their individual struggles started to become social and political ones. Parallel to our heroes’ ongoing fight as athletes in their sports careers, we tried to discuss how they could exist as a woman in this society. All of us being women and former athletes in the same country, we grew up together. Our experiences and concerns related to each other. Mısra and Defne were real companions for us not just heroes of our film. Therefore, we can describe “Duet” as a film of friendship, common dreams, struggle, and the story of growing up.