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Film Archive

Passed by Censor

East of the West - Competition 2019 / Görülmüştür / Turkey, Germany, France 2018

Zakir works in a prison as a censor. Each day he reads dozens of letters, carefully blacking out everything not meant for the eyes of those serving time. A photograph inserted into one of the envelopes disrupts his regular routine, and his interest in the unknown woman in the picture grows into an obsession. A psychological study of an individual who gradually loses his personal and professional integrity while becoming trapped in his own fantasy world.

Passed by Censor Passed by Censor

Synopsis

Zakir works in a prison as a censor. His days are spent reading other people’s letters, carefully blacking out everything not meant for the eyes of those serving time. In order to escape the stress of his job, he signs up for a creative writing course. One day, however, he is given a tricky assignment – to select a photograph and write a fictional account inspired by the picture. He decides to use a photo he finds enclosed in one of the letters. But Zakir’s interest in the woman depicted shifts beyond the assigned task and becomes a compulsive preoccupation to help her, regardless of whether her cruel fate is real or just a figment of his imagination. A psychological study of a man who succumbs to his obsession, unable to distinguish fantasy from reality.

Anna Kořínek

About the film

95 min / Color, DCP
International premiere

Director Serhat Karaaslan / Screenplay Serhat Karaaslan / Dir. of Photography Meryem Yavuz / Editor Ali Aga / Art Director Ibrahim Ildem / Producer Serkan Cakarer, Undine Filter, Thomas Kral, Judith Nora, Priscilla Bertin / Production +90 Film Production / Coproduction Departures Film, Silex Films / Cast Berkay Ates, Saadet Isil Aksoy, Fusun Demirel / Sales BAC Films

About the director

Serhat Karaaslan

Serhat Karaaslan (b. 1984, Varto, Turkey). Filmography: Bicycle (Bîsîklet, 2011, short), Musa (2012, short), Ice Cream (Dondurma, 2014, short), Passed by Censor (Görülmüştür, 2018)

Contacts

BAC Films
9, rue Pierre Dupont, 75010, Paris
France
Phone: +33 180 491 000
E-mail: [email protected]

Press kit


Press kit


Guests

Serhat Karaaslan
Film Director

Undine Filter
Producer

Thomas Král
Producer

Berkay Ates
Actor

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