Love, Spells and all That // Aşk, Büyü Vs.
Director & Script: Ümit Ünal
Producer: Ümit Ünal
Cast: Selen Uçer, Ece Dizdar, Aysenil Samlioglu, Damla Ersan
Turkey, 2019, 96 min, Turkish with Hebrew and English subtitles
Festivals & Awards:
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2019 – Jury’s Special Award, Best Actress & Cinema Writer’s Foundation Jury Award
Istanbul International Film Festival 2020 – Best Actress, Best Screenplay & Golden Tulip – National Competition Award
L.A. Outfest 2021 – Winner Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Screenwriting in an International Feature
Fire!! – Barcelona LGBT Film Festival 2021 – Best Film Award
OUTSHINE: Miami Film Festival and Fort Lauderdale LGBT Film Festival 2021
Inside Out: Toronto LGBT Film Festival 2021
NewFest: New York LGBT Film Festival 2021
In Büyükada, the biggest island of Istanbul, cats are roaming free in the streets and bougainvillea bushes flower and wither. The island that looks like it is permanently stuck in the 80’s, is full of stories – “Love, Spells and all That” is one of them.
This is the story of two women who meet again after twenty years and the passionate and painful romance of their youth is reignited. Eren sails to Büyükada to convince her childhood love Reyhan that they are still in love. Reyhan isn’t all that excited by the gesture and even admits she had cast a love spell on Eren after she left the island. But Eren is determined to win Reyhan’ heart again.
Director/screenwriter Ümit Ünal, whose film “The Pomegranate” was screened at the 2012 TLVFest, and the two main actresses will cast a spell on you, as they provide a touching melodrama about the absurd conflict between secularism and superstitions, nostalgia and the modern world.