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31st BOSTON TURKISH ARTS & CULTURE FESTIVAL

YELLOW LETTERS

Sarı Zarflar

Directed by İLKER ÇATAK


Directed by İlker Çatak

128 min. / 2026 / with English subtitles

Cast: Özgü Namal, Tansu Biçer, Leyla Smyrna Cabas, İpek Bilgin


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SELECTED FESTIVALS AND AWARDS


  • Berlin International Film Festival, Germany (2026): Golden Bear Award


SYNOPSIS


Derya and Aziz, a celebrated artist couple from Ankara, lead a fulfilling life with their 13-year-old daughter Ezgi – until an incident at the premiere of their new play changes everything. Overnight, they find themselves targeted by the state and lose their jobs and their home. They move to Istanbul to temporarily stay with Aziz's mother. While Aziz ekes out a living with odd jobs and holds on to his convictions, Derya searches for a way to become financially independent. An increasing distance grows between them and their daughter until they are forced to choose between their values and their shared future as a family.

“Berlin in the role of Ankara, Hamburg as Istanbul. The winning film of this year’s Berlinale is a meticulous analysis of a struggle against power that could be set anywhere and doesn’t lose its momentum for even a second. Playwright Aziz and his wife Derya run afoul of the regime, and although they overcome the loss of their home and their jobs thanks to the help of friends and family, it is unclear whether this conflict can remain entirely without victims. The new situation tests the relationships within the family, especially as regards the couple’s teenage daughter.” — Vít Kořínek, Karlovy Vary Film Festival

 

"At its core is the kind of cinema that has long sustained the medium at large: the family drama. But it's presented here with invigorating flourishes that encircle the story within specific moments in time, while also granting it a stirring dramatic transcendence. The scope of its ambition is met, at every turn, by deft control over what is witnessed, and how."

— Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

Ilker Catak

İLKER ÇATAK

Director, Writer


İlker Çatak was born in Berlin in 1984 and grew up in Istanbul. He studied directing in Berlin and Hamburg. His graduation short Sadakat – Treue (2014) won numerous awards, including the Student Academy Award® (Gold)

for Best International Short Film. His feature debut Once Upon A Time in Indian Country (Es war einmal Indianerland) was released in 2017. Two years later, he directed I was, I am, I will be (Es gilt das gesprochene Wort, 2019), produced by Ingo Fliess, which premiered at the Munich Film Festival, won multiple awards, and received the German Film Award (Lola) in Bronze for Best Film. In 2021, Çatak adapted Finn-Ole Heinrich’s novel Räuberhände for the screen. He has also worked extensively in television, including the Tatort episode Borowski und der gute Mensch.


His film The Teacher’s Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer) premiered at the Berlinale in 2023, received numerous international awards, and was nominated for the Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film in 2024.

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