The Fraud

Director: Sinem Atakul
Turkey, 2020, 27’
No Dialogues

In 2015, Diyarbakır's Sur district was under the world's longest siege (two years) under the name of Hendek Operations. The narrative of the migration of more than forty thousand people from the district and the destruction of hundreds of houses takes place with the main axis of 'displacement'. The texts of this film, shot in the district of Sur, consist of the texts of the 8th hell in Dante's Divine Comedy. The main plot of the Eighth Hell; 'fraud/conscious evil'. The eighth hell consists of ten ditches. The narration of this hell through the ditches; It forms the metaphor of the blockade of Sur under the name of "Operation Trench". Every ditch is for dishonest conscious villains. As the movie progresses through the emptied spaces of Old Sur, it turns into a detective chase in pursuit of human tracks, while the memory reminds us of an evacuation image. On the stone of the destroyed houses, on the spot; we focus on both the human trace and the traces of destruction left by humans. While wandering the narrow streets of Old Sur, our way always leads to the new Sur, which is spread over an area of kilometers. After looking at this whole frame / Sur District from above, the movie ends in a house again.