TAMILLA, 1924

Germany | DCP, Black-White | 65’
Director: Muhsin Ertuğrul
Cast: Anna Zarzhitskaya, Nikolai Kuchinsky, Ivan Kapralov

Directed by Muhsin Ertuğrul – one of the pioneering figures of Turkish theater and cinema and the founder of Darülbedayi – was made during his time at the Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration (VUFKU). Adapted from a novel by Ferdinand Duchêne, the film tells the tragic story of a young woman in Algeria under French colonial rule in the 1920s. Sold into marriage by her father at a young age, Tamilla becomes trapped in a cycle of exploitation, repeatedly “sold” to different men. Her life, shaped by poverty, violence, and motherhood, ultimately leads her into irreversible isolation. Long believed lost, the film was rediscovered in Ukrainian archives and was first screened in Türkiye at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in 2019. A longer six-reel version preserved at the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) will be presented in Türkiye for the first time in this program.
Restorasyon: Bundesarchiv

Presentation: Ahmet Gürata

Live Music: Andrea Goretti