Heads and Tails
57 min., Turkey, 2019
Directors
Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel
Producers
Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel, Özgür Doğan, Enis Köstepen
Cinematography
Raşel Meseri, Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel
Editing
Fırat Yücel, Aylin Kuryel
Participants
Coya Daniel, Sima Meseri Badash
Original music
Fırat Yücel
Sound mix
Fatih Rağbet
Heads and Tails chronicles the curious hair trade between Turkey and Israel. Two Turkish-Israeli women, Coya and Sima, get the tails of hair from male hair traders from Turkey and sell them to wig makers in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak. Orthodox Jewish women cover their heads with the wigs made of the hair once belonged to women from Anatolia. In this journey, the hair is turned into a commodity, a means of living and source of beauty, becomes kosher, yet doesn’t pay much to its owner, the one who carefully grows the hair.
Screenings and awards
- Middle East Now Festival, Florence, 2019
- Istanbul Film Festival, National Documentary Competition, 2019 (Special Mention Award)
- Ankara Film Festival, 2019
- Filmamed Documentary Film Festival, Diyarbakır, 2019
- Documentarist – Istanbul Documentary Days, 2019
- DokuFest – Documentary and Short Film Festival, Prizren, 2019
- Ayvalık Film Festivali, 2019
- İstanbul Modern, Biz De Varız! Selection, 2019
Interviews
- “Baştan Başa: İnsan saçının elden ele yolculuğu”, Yetkin Nural, Bantmag, 9 Temmuz 2023 (In Turkish)
- “Türkiye'den İsrail'e peruk ticareti: Saçın uzun yolculuğu”, Seçil Kalenderoğlu, Birgün, 20 Mart 2020 (In Turkish)