Directed by VOLKAN ÜCE
Doc. / 2021 / 80 min. / with English subtitles
At the start of the summer season Ismail and Hakan start working in Nashira Resort, a gigantic all-inclusive hotel at the Turkish Riviera. Ismail is 18 and dropped out of school to earn money for his family. He dreams of working as a hairdresser, but is employed as a kitchen porter at the hotel. Hakan is 25 and the youngest of 12 children. He quit his studies and hopes to overcome his social anxiety in the hotel. He will work as a lifeguard at the aquapark of the hotel. Both have come to the hotel business to move ahead in life and to learn English.
At first both young men are very shy and avoid all contact with the hotel guests. They have learned to be respectful to others and they understand their position. They observe the colourful swimsuits, the unemptied plates, the different ways of addressing other people, and gradually discover the sorts of opportunities that come with them. As the friendship between Ismail and Hakan grows stronger, it becomes clear how different they are. Watching the guests from behind his buffet, Ismail’s appetite to discover the Western world only seems to increase. But Hakan struggles to be ‘the nobody’ the hotel business demands him to be. In vain, he tries to discuss Pushkin and Dostoyevsky with the Russian tourists. Is it at all possible to set your identity aside for the sake of money? And who can be an example to whom?
By following Ismail and Hakan during 2 summers in the hotel, ALL-IN explores the loss of innocence against the backdrop of a fading European dream. Initial kindness turns into indifference as Ismail and Hakan’s initiation into the absurd world of Western tourism soon leads them to ask: which dreams are really worth aspiring to?
"Its gentle story of the loss of innocence and being lost in a faceless system is an engaging and often amusing one" - Business Doc Europe
“In "All-In" we do not see obvious excesses or disparities, but an exquisite painting of growth in the face of the inevitable environment of capitalism.” - La Estatuilla
"An amusing coming-of-age story about modern alienation in the workplace." - Fred Film Radio
Selected Festivals and Awards:
Director VOLKAN ÜCE
After obtaining his master’s degree in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, Volkan Üce started to work at the same university. He decided to continue as a self-taught filmmaker before completing his PhD.
His first full-length documentary ‘Displaced’ had its world premiere at DOK Leipzig 2017 and was received with great enthusiasm by both the international and the Belgian public. ‘Displaced’ shows the identity crisis of third-generation Turks growing up in Belgium and the Netherlands. At the same time the film tells a lot about current Turkish and Western European society. His second documentary ‘ALL-IN’ premiered at CPH:DOX and Hot Docs 2021, was selected for the European Film Awards, won the award Best Documentary at the Antalya Film Festival and is sold by CAT&Docs.
As a filmmaker, Volkan makes sure that his films are more than just an exotic story. Besides informing and creating empathy for his protagonists, Volkan also strives, in a subtle way, to confront the audience with themselves.
