New Turkish Films -

The City and the Messiah

Original title: "Şehir ve Mesih"

Directed by

Aylin Kuryel, Raşel Meseri Aylin Kuryel is an independent filmmaker and an academic at the Literary and Cultural Analysis Department at the University of Amsterdam. Among her documentaries are Translating Ulysses (2023), A Defense (2021), The Balcony and Our Dreams (2020), CemileSezgin (2020), Heads and Tails (2018), Welcome Lenin (2016), Taboo (2009).
Raşel Meseri Raşel Meseri is a writer and filmmaker based in Izmir, Turkey. She published children’s books, and three novels mostly focusing on the cultural heritage of the Jewish communities, and some of her theater plays are put on stage in different cities.

Cinematography by

Ali Cem Doğan, Aylin Kuryel, Raşel Meseri

Edited by

Aylin Kuryel, Fırat Yücel

Music by

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Color: color, Running time: 30, Format: Digital 4K, Countries: Turkey, Languages: Turkish


Producer(s)
Özgür Dogan Özgür Doğan was born in 1977, Muş, Turkey. He graduated from the Department of Radio-TV and Cinema, Ankara University in 2001. He has worked as a Research Assistant at the Middle East Technical University for 10 years. He obtained his MA in Media and Cultural Studies at METU in 2004. He attended Binger FilmLab’s Creative Producer Workshop in 2012 and EAVE Workshop with Emre Yeksan's project, 'There, Outside' in 2013.
Production company(s)

Perisan Film

Sales agent

Aylin Kuryel

Synopsis

THE CITY AND THE MESSIAH is an essay-film that evolves around Sabbatai Zevi, a Jewish rabbi who declared himself the messiah in the 17th century in Izmir and gained followers from Izmir to Thessaloniki, Jerusalem to Amsterdam. We embark on a journey around the recently restored house where Zevi was born in the Agora district of Izmir and dive into the archive of the street. The collective memory triggered around the house offers clues about what official history excludes and the urban legends in circulation.

Photo Gallery

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Trailer