Sertaç Koyuncu's goal is to produce international standard films in Turkey in the Elevated Horror genre and he prefers fiction, documentary, animation, and experimental horror films with social sensitivity, whether of short, medium, or feature-length.
Director’s Statement
Sertaç Koyuncu has written this script when he was doing his obligatory military service. A nightmare that Koyuncu saw when he was in the military, inspired him to write the script. The movie is mainly based on the idea of being stuck in somewhere and its reflections on individuals. The project tries to show the tension between people who must go through a tunnel, in this case, an elevator, to go out from their houses. This tunnel is the critical representation of a single ideology, single political party and single and pure form of life. The emphasis on individual’s deadlock was screened in a way that the space and the construction, aren’t able to deal with. The location of the set was Dokuz Eylül Fine Arts Faculty’s TV studio on first three days of May. The idea of being stuck in somewhere puts down its roots on space’s architecture. The building that is pictured in the movie is similar to former Turkish housing estates, in which most of the poor families or the families who have low-income live. These housing estates were made to prevent squattering and overpopulation. The building manager Miss Bahtiyar keeps on writing petitions to the authorities about the conditions of the elevators. She tries to address that they don’t meet with the capacity of the building and they constantly break down, yet she never gets an answer. Since Miss Bahtiyar has a really low tolerance, is stubborn and dominant, one day she decides to label two of the elevators as not in use. When only one of the elevators function, in a building ought to have three, because of manager related issues, it clearly shows that there is a concrete obstacle to live peacefully. Proving the saying “democracy is a regime of toleration”, the intoleration of the building manager, has finally ended up being a restriction of residents’ right to live peacefully.
Director and Writer Filmography / Sertaç Koyuncu
Peer Through The Skin (2021, 021, Feature, Fiction, Project in Development)
- Selected for SOLIS Cinema Sessions Project Development Camp Workshop.
- 58th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, Antalya Film Forum, Pitching for Feature Films in Development, Film Standartları Post Production Award, 2021.
Suffocating With Manners (2019, Short Film)
- 12th Lions International Short Film Competition, Third Prize, Istanbul, July 2021.
- 7th International Uşak Winged Seahorse Short Film Festival, National Short Film Competition, Best Sound Award, and Best Visual Effects Award, Istanbul, December 2020.
- 7th FABİSAD Gio Awards, Short Film Category, Success Award, Istanbul, January 2020.
- 41st IFSAK National Short Film Competition, Best Film Nominee, Istanbul, March 2021.
- 7th International Uşak Winged Seahorse Short Film Festival, National Short Film Competition, Best Film Nominee, Best Director Nominee, Best Cinematography Nominee, Best Screenplay Nominee, Best Editing Nominee, Best Art Direction Nominee, Istanbul, December 2020.
- 16th Court Mais Trash Film Festival, International Short Film Competition, Best Film Nominee, March 2021, Belgium, Brussels.
- 39th Terror Molins Film Festival, International Short Film Competition, Special Jury Award Nominee, Best Screenplay Nominee, Best Special Effects or Make-up Nominee, Best Performance by ‘Victor Israel Nominee,’ Manel Gibert Special Audience Award Nominee, Barcelona, Spain, November 2020.
- Bornova Municipality Short Film Office, Shortest Day Short Film Selection, İzmir, December 2020.
- 21st International İzmir Short Film Festival, Panorama Selection, İzmir, November 2020.
- 2nd International 2 Collar Short Film Festival, Official Selection, İzmir, October 2020.
- 3rd Balkan Can Kino Film Symposium, Official Selection, Athens, Greece, October 2020.
- 8th Kayseri Golden Sycamore Film Festival, Official Selection, Kayseri, October 2020.
- 4th Kyiv International Film Festival, Festival Plus Ukraine, Official Selection, Ukraine, September 2020.
- 33rd Braunschweig International Film Festival, Fürchterlich Warmherzig, Official Selection, Germany, November 2019.
- 13th Alexandria Film Festival, Midnight Program, Official Selection, USA, November 2019.
- 3rd Videoscream International Film Festival, Nominated for Best Short Film, Portland, USA, October 2021.
- 4th Torino Short Film Market, Italy, November 2019.
- 72nd Cannes Film Festival, Short Film Corner, France, May 2019.
- 41st Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Market, France, January 2019.
Solo (2017, Short Film)
- Aphrodite Project, Athens Aphrodite Festival, Official Selection, June 2018.
- 62. Berlin Bi’bakino Lubunya Queer Shorts From Turkey, Official Selection, June 2018.
- 2. LGBTI+ İzmir Youth Festival, Official Selection, April 2018.
- Queer Shorts From Turkey, National Short Film Competition, Nominated for Best Film Award, January 2017.
- 6. Pembe Hayat KuirFest Ankara, Official Selection, January 2017.
