A Defense

16 min., Turkey/The Netherlands, 2021

Director
Aylin Kuryel

Producers
Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel

Editing
Aylin Kuryel

Cinematography
Fırat Yücel

Sound design & mix
Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel

In 2016, hundreds of academics signed a petition in Turkey, asking the state to put an end to violence inflicted upon Kurdish people. Academics for Peace have been criminalized and put on trial with the charge of terrorist propaganda. A Defense portrays one of the Academics for Peace while preparing for her upcoming appearance in court in 2019. A psychodrama is put on stage in a house, where the person is both the state, the judge, the academic and the cook. It’s a self-portrait on the violence and absurdity of the ways in which the state sneaks into the house of an academic, forcing her to adjust her words, body and gestures.