Out of Competition

TAKSİM HOLD’EM

• Director: Michael Önder
• TURKEY / 2017 / DCP / Colour / 89´ / Turkish; English s.t.

• Screenplay: Michael Önder
• Director of Photography: Ersin Gök
• Editing: Taner Sarf
• Cast: Kenan Ece, Damla Sönmez, Berk Hakman, Nezih Cihan Aksoy, Emre Yetim, Tansu Taşanlar
• Producer: Jozef Erçevik Amado
• Co-Producers: Kaan Yazgan, Alexander Timur Çambol
• Production Co.: Bluff Films
• World Sales: Bluff Films

On a Saturday night in Istanbul, despite the pleas of his fiancée, cynical Alper refuses to join the protests taking place on his doorstep. He just wants to stay home for his weekly dose of poker, played with his regular crew of high-school friends. Alper’s game is threatened as his friends set o on a series of passionate, and at times ill-thought-out, squabbles on whether they should join the demonstrations or not.  The game is interrupted when the police disperse the protesters outside, and couple of them are forced to take refuge in the flat. Alper’s night is to take a turn for the worse when his fiancée returns home with an injured feet, in the arms of a handsome stranger.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.