Synopsis

Ali, a Syrian refugee child carrying secret messages, is the only link between two lovers from feuding families. One day Ali loses the message given by his sister. He decides to forge a new massage on his own that would have terrible consequences.

Director's statement

The idea for Narin (Delicate) came to me during the shoot of my previous film Garip (The Hoarder) in summer 2014 again in Fener district of Istanbul. A couple of Syrian refugee children came to our set and begged for money. Several of our cast and crew gave them money which they used to buy ice cream. The two children ate their ice cream, smearing the chocolate on their face in the process. When our lead actor warned the child to “clean up” the child started to sweep the floor. We did not understand at first what this behavior meant. We alter understood that the locals were mistreating the children telling them to earn a living rather than begging on the streets. That image of the children cleaning the streets, looking for garbage stayed with me for a whole year. I knew these children had to be in my next film and I wrote the story for Narin. The invisible ink in the film came from my childhood when we used to write secret messages to each other in class.

Director's short bio

Murat Akser studied filmmaking at York University. After working as camera assistant in Toronto’s Hollywood productions, he has started writing and directing his own short films. His most recent short film Garip (The Hoarder) has been screened at international film festivals, most recently at Cannes Short Film Corner.