Emerging storyteller Meriç Demiray takes on capitalism in debut feature

 Demiray, a keen 34-year-old storyteller who has been writing screenplays for a number of television series since 2002, recounts the sad tale of an apartment caretaker and a news cameraman living in the same building in “Daddy's.”

 Salim the caretaker (Turan Özdemir of “Dondurmam Gaymak” [Ice Cream, I Scream] fame) has a hard time making ends meet each month with two children, one still going to school; moreover, he has to deal with -- or at least listen to -- the personal problems of the apartment building's residents, such as a retired army commander who thinks managing an apartment building is like managing a country, only on a smaller scale, and news cameraman Korcan (Levent Tülek), who, having reached his 40s, has started questioning the meaning of his existence and the job he is doing for a living and, as though this was not enough, has issues with his girlfriend, who is never around. In the meantime, Salim is also fed up with having to operate the building's central water heating system, which burns coal. His lungs are filled with coal dust after years and years of putting coal into the burner each and every day.

 One day while they are chatting, Korcan offers Salim a way to make some extra money; the two will shoot fake crime stories and sell them to television stations as though the event was coincidentally shot by an amateur cameraman. Salim will play the criminal in these stories. They sell their first fake heist story to the TV station Korcan works for and share the money. Now there is a source of hope for both men. However, just when they think their lives are saved, at least for as long as they can continue making fake videos, Salim gets fired.

A critical look at capitalism

Demiray, who has combined comedic elements with drama -- and even tragedy -- in “Daddy's,” says he was inspired by a real life story he read around six or seven years ago about a group who were caught shooting and selling fake “amateur camera” footage to television stations. But this was not the only reference point for Demiray's multilayered story; the three main characters, the caretaker, the retired officer and the cameraman, are based on real life personalities. “There really was a retired officer like the one portrayed in the film in my apartment and the caretaker of that apartment was fired when the apartment's central heating system was converted from coal to natural gas, so I combined these two stories together,” Demiray explains during an interview with Today's Zaman.

 But these stories are mingled with the aim of presenting a view of the present-day society's “rotten ethical values,” says Demiray. “This film is actually a critical look at capitalism, at what it does to people who live in big cities” through the character of the cameraman. “People who live and work amid the triangle formed by [İstanbul's] Levent, Taksim and Beşiktaş [districts] are those who feel the effects of capitalism first and foremost. And this brings about loneliness and isolation into their lives. Human relations are weakened every day; these people can forsake all sorts of ethical stances and values because [the system demands that] they always need to be the best in whatever [profession] they are,” explains the director. “And there is also the issue of loneliness and drugs: These people are lonely, they continue living alone, but they have many things missing in their lives, they go home, watch some TV, smoke some pot … they are trying to fend off loneliness with the help of drugs,” complains Demiray.

Stories of people sidelined in life

Nevertheless, “Daddy's” did not receive only praise at its premiere this week; some festivalgoers were complaining at a panel discussion with the film's crew that there was too much profane language in the film. But Tülek's answer was fair enough: “This is a dark and tough story. People in that dark pit can sometimes curse in order to make their voices heard.”

 Asked about the prospect of receiving a Golden Orange for his story, Demiray says their film is “different from the other films running in this competition.”

 “We will burn ourselves up if we do not receive a prize!” quips the film's producer, Direnç Kıymaç, who Demiray's classmate in the cinema and television department at Eskişehir's Anadolu University. Demiray continues: “We made this movie entirely on our own efforts, without the financial backing of a corporate sponsor or the [Culture and Tourism] Ministry. So for us to be here is already a success in its own right.”

 The film is the fruit of joint efforts by Demiray and his friends at the Rüya İşçileri (Dream Workers) screenwriters' collective, with whom he works together on numerous TV projects, and the relationship between them. Demiray and his collaborators did not even consider applying for funding from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, “not because we were against [the policies of] the ministry or something, but if we did apply for funding, it would have hindered our film by at least five months because we would not be able to start work without an answer from the ministry,” explains Kıymaç, also a member of Rüya İşçileri.

 “We really did not have that much time,” says Demiray. “Plus, we would feel ourselves sort of restricted because we would then have to let others have a say in our film if we received any financial support,” he adds, noting that he is determined to tell his stories through small-budget independent films like this one for as long as he can. “My friends and I will continue telling the stories of people who are sidelined in life, people beaten by capitalism.”

 Having talked this much about capitalism, how about the movie's returns? Will it be able to finance the up-and-coming director in transferring his other stories onto the silver screen? “This is not a blockbuster, so what it earns from its box office run and its TV rights sales will only cover the expenses of the cast and crew,” Demiray explains. For upcoming projects though, Demiray and his team will again have to turn to their own resources. As for projects, the prolific screenwriter has “plenty of them,” ready and waiting to be filmed. “‘Daddy's' was not my first screenplay; I was planning on shooting another screenplay I wrote much earlier, about a schizophrenic man who believes that the people of İstanbul will set off toward better lives one day with the help of huge vessels waiting moored off the coasts of İstanbul. … I picked ‘Daddy's' as my first film because it did not require a big budget.”