Directed by REHA ERDEM
Cast: Serkan Keskin, Nihal Yalçın, Bülent Emin Yarar, Ezgi Mola, Taner Birsel, Tilbe Saran, Esra Bezen Bilgin, Tansu Biçer, Ecem Uzun
2021 / 82 min. / with English subtitles
‘Hey There!’ is internationally renowned director Reha Erdem’s latest and most comical peek at the masked and un-masked conditions of humankind today. Shot via zoom during lockdown in Istanbul, it follows the online interactions between a conman who infiltrates people’s homes through their computers, with those caught alone in their homes: fear and anxiety emerge, but so do defiance, yearning, empathy, love, trust, and of course, melange!
Istanbul is under lockdown. Felek and Kerim have the scheme set up: They infiltrate the computers of people in their homes, pretend they are the government, scare them with their ‘crimes’, and rip them off. But this is Istanbul, and people come in all types. The academic, the land registry officer, the treasure hunter, and the beauty specialist may all feel implicated in the word crime, but in worlds of different ways. This is not a story about victims of crime, but a hilarious, open-hearted, sharp peek into what happens when people are caught home alone: they get agitated, annoyed and afraid, but they also defy, they yearn, they wonder, they love, they turn and tweak, and course, they dance!
Written and shot via zoom during the global pandemic, internationally renowned director Reha Erdem’s ‘Hey There!’ virtually brings together some of the best known actors of Turkey, in their own homes, with characters written especially for them. This is a world where people cannot leave their homes without masks, so instead, Erdem finds them home, in powerful close-up as always, yet with a much needed light hearted humor, for our days.
Director REHA ERDEM
Reha Erdem (1960, Istanbul) began his studies in History at Bogazici University in Istanbul. He graduated from Cinema Department of Paris 8 University. He obtained his M.A. in Plastic Arts at the same university. He shot his first feature-length film Oh Moon (Aa Ay) in 1989 as a French-Turkish co-production. He shot Run for Money (Kaç Para Kaç) in 1999, Mommy, I'm Scared (Korkuyorum Anne) in 2004, Times and Winds (Beş Vakit) in 2006, My Only Sunshine (Hayat Var), Turkish-Greek-Bulgarian co-production, in 2008, Kosmos in 2009, Jîn in 2012, and Singing Women (Şarkı Söyleyen Kadınlar), a Turkish-French-German co-production in 2013, and Big Big World (Koca Dünya) in 2016. He wrote all of his films except for Mommy I'm scared, for which he was one of the co-writers. He also has short films and directed a theater play, Maids (Les Bonnes) by Jean Genet.
