Point Zero
A Turkish gay pilot (Deniz) and a European college student (Ruben) meet in a hotel bar and have drinks together. When Ruben offers the pilot cocaine, the two move upstairs to Ruben's hotel room. After indulging in alcohol and drugs, the pilot makes a move on Ruben but is rejected. Having endured societal pressure and maternal violence his whole life because of his homosexuality, the pilot has a cathartic outburst of suppressed emotions and ends up smothering Ruben to death with a pillow. Having realized what he's done, he first deals with the murder in a state of shock, but soon comes to terms with the man he has become.
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Dilara ŞahinDirector
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Ayfer ŞahinWriter
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Samican KaratekinProducer
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Ezel ErgenekonProducer
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Mehmet Ali ŞahinExecutive Producer
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Remzi Uğur ÖzgerKey Cast"Deniz / Pilot"
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Güney ErgüneyKey Cast"Ruben"
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Celal Burak ÖzgülDirector of Photography
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Mustafa DoğanEditor
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Arif BilbayGaffer
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Alçin AteşalpStylist
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Numan AlkanDIT
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İrem Nur Satıcı1rst AC
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Turan TütüncüLighting Assistants
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Ali ŞimşekLighting Assistants
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Fatih CanıbeyazSet Grip
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Mustafa SürücüBoom Operator
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Mehmet Oğuz ŞahinProduction Coordinator
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Samet AtakLocation Manager
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Gökçe Su İyikanSound Design
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Ecem GelgeçColor
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Işıl Başak ArabacıGraphic Designer
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Project Type:Short
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Genres:Drama
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Runtime:11 minutes 45 seconds
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Completion Date:March 15, 2023
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Production Budget:4,000 USD
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Country of Origin:Turkey
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Country of Filming:Turkey
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Language:English, Turkish
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Born in 2001 in Istanbul, Turkey, Dilara Sahin has lived and studied in Istanbul until she was 17. She then went to The Netherlands to study Media and Film at the University of Amsterdam for three years. In college, she directed a short documentary about musicians in times of Covid-19 and collaborated in several school productions. While studying, she worked as the First Assistant Director and Producer Assistant in an experimental film production called "Togetherness" by American performance artist and director Pope L. After graduating from college in 2022, she moved back to Istanbul, where she worked as an assistant director in the film and commercial production company Kala Film. Later, she started developing the script for Point Zero, her first short film and directorial debut. Gathering the cast and crew for the film, she stepped into the shoes of the director to make her first festival film, commenting on LGBTQ+ societal issues in Turkey.
“Evil can not be explained in a rigid framework. Good and evil are socially constructed norms. There would be no such concepts if society hadn’t put up boundaries that separate the right and wrong thing to do. Societal pressures, conditions of life itself and psychology are indispensable factors in the shaping of a culture that not only enables, but justifies evil.
There is good and evil in each one of us, this is an ever-lasting part of nature and humankind. And the line dividing good and evil within a man’s heart is thin and easy to cross over.
Despite the initial perception, Point Zero is not about a gay pilot who meets a young man in a hotel. The film is much more than this encounter between two people who affect the lives of one another drastically. What we aimed to convey with the film is that a lifetime of enduring societal pressure, homophobia, parental abuse and loneliness can inevitably lead to the birth of an evil persona. The pilot, in that sense, represents the eternal fight between good and evil within a person.
As Dostoevsky said: ‘Nothing is easier than to denounce the evildoer; nothing is more difficult than to understand him’.”
- Dilara Sahin