Runing time : 120 minutes

Original language  : Turc     N° RPCA  :  128 928

Synopsis

Araf  is the story of two young people caught in a vacuum in their lives, ZEHRA (18) and OLGUN (18). They both work 24 hour shifts in a great service station  situated by a motorway.The place they inhabit and work is a place of throw away culture, constant change, and they themselves wait for the chance to change and escape from their empty monotonous lives.

Zehra lives with her family in a village. When she is not working, like most people her life passes in front of the tv. She daydreams that one day she will escape her dull environs to go far away to live a glamorous life and fall wonderfully in love like the characters she sees on the small screen. Zehra’s work colleague Olgun lives with his parents in the nearby city. He also plans to get rich quick by winning the prize on a tv gameshow. He aims to be a powerful and impressive man in this life. On one hand he is dreaming of appearing on the gameshow and on the other he is wildy in love with Zehra and tries tirelessly to impress her. They both work in the petrol station and share the same tv fuelled dreams.

One day Zehra falls passionately in love with a lorry driver MAHUR (38) who arrives at the petrol station one winter, and the pairs’ life is turned upside down because of it. Zehra discovers her own body, sexual powers and self-confidence through this affair, and starts to slowly lose the innocence of her girlhood. Olgun notices this change in Zehra and is affected by it, he starts to try more outlandish stunts inspired by those he has seen on tv, to make himself a local hero and attract her attentions and win her back.

When Zehra learns that she is pregnant she tries to protect her unborn child in a very conservative society and she learns that only she can take responsibility for life and decide on its’ direction . Olgun’s violent reaction instigated by his incredible disappointment and wounded pride at this news causes him to end up in prison. After some time though he learns the meaning of true love and selflessness.

Throughout the passing of the film these two young people learn the stark truths of life, grow to maturity and embracing each other discover the real escape route from this limbo, albeit very far from the one of their intial dreams…

Credits

Written and directed by  Yesim Ustaogly

Cast  :

Zehra      Neslihan Atagül

Olgun      Baris Hacihan

Mahur    Ozcan Deniz

Derya      Nihal Yalcin

Rifat        Ilgaz Kocatürk

Haydar    Can Bazak

Meryem   Yesemin Conkar

Crew  :

Producers  : Yesim Ustaoglu, Serkan Cakarer, Catherine Dussart, Michael Weber

Associate producers  : Hisami Kuroiwa and  Meinolf Zurhorst

Director of photography  : Michael Hammon

Sound and mixing : Bruno Tarrière

Editors : Mathilde Muyard and Naim Kanat

Music by  : Marc Marder

A European Co-production between :

Ustaoglu Film Yapim/Turky, CDP / France, The Match Factory /Germany, ZDF/ARTE/ Germany

TRT / Turky

Supported by T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanligi/Turky, Centre National du cinéma et de l’image animée/France, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg/Germany, Eurimages