Game, Interrupted

In “Game, Interrupted,” I aim to create a sharp contrast between the retrofuturistic sci-fi scenes with the documentary-style realistic depiction of the household in 1979’s Ankara, the capital of Turkey. This way, I intend to portray the weird socio-political atmosphere of the country in the most candid way through the eyes of children. It was the days just before the military coup intervention which commenced more conservative regimes in Turkey while in the neighbor regions like Iran, religious ideologies were rising radically. The Turkish middle class who generally admired the Western life style, followed these developments with concern but did not challenge to resist. On the other hand, unlike the desperate adults, the kids in the film are powerful enough not to submit to fate.

The screenplay is based on a multi-layered story and the question “Who interrupts the game?” is resolved sequentially. There are several candidates for the answer. The goalkeeper taking a penalty, the explosion heard from the street, the mother who’s never seen, the grandmother who falls over the tent, and the intruder who waits at the door. The plot unfolds swiftly with twists and ends up with a hopeful crescendo.

I tried to provide the creative background of the film by making references to the inspiring works of the masters and by including pop culture elements. Classic space scenes from Kubrick's Space Odyssey, the solitude of two wandering siblings in Angelopoulos' Misty Landscape, the circus tent in which Fellini's childhood was seized, Wes Anderson's pictorial cinematography, the daredevils of Stranger Things, 70's events, television commercials, football matches and science fiction characters...

Since I am an only child, what excited me the most while writing the script was the strong bond between the two siblings. I think there's something magical about them nourishing each other's imagination and creating a world of their own. I wanted to bring that magic to the big screen before I grew older, while I still look at the world with the eyes of a child.