Toronto International Film Festival 2024, San Sebastián International Film Festival 2024
Twenty-two-year-old Gülizar was raised in a loving albeit strict Turkish household full of taboos and expectations. Gulizar longs to experience what lies beyond the only world that she and the women around her have ever known. Betrothed to her beloved Emre, she is eager to leave everything behind and start a new life in Kosovo. Gülizar’s fairy tale, however, tragically turns into a nightmare when she is sexually assaulted en route. There’s seemingly little that can be done to obtain justice and, with wedding preparations in full swing, Gülizar’s aspirations for happiness appears bleak and distant. But secrets are hard to keep in close-knit societies. Told through the gaze of a woman yearning for her own internal locus of control, Gülizar delves into the complexities of trauma, societal expectations, and the universal search for self-discovery and determination.
Turkish writer-director Belkis Bayrak received her MA degree in Film and Television from Istanbul Bilgi University. She founded her own production house Saba Film in 2018, and has so far made two short films, The Apartment (2018) and Cemile (2020). Bayrak is also an alumnus of the Torino Film Lab, Reclaim The Frame’s Filmonomics Program, and a member of the European Women’s Audio-visual (EWA) Network.