still: Belonging

In Mete Gümürhan’s new feature film Belonging (Beraber), produced by Circe Films and selected for Sarajevo Focus and Teenarena, the life of the adolescent Zeki is turned upside down after his father decides to move from Rotterdam to Istanbul following the death of his wife, and Zeki’s mother. The house they move to is luxurious and set in a gated community, but the boy feels trapped with no friends to have fun with. His only companion is a concerned dad who is unfamiliar with the huge and sprawling city beyond the gates of their compound.

But Zeki is young and strong and highly skilled in free running and climbing, and the walls of the complex present no obstacle to him exploring the city. Soon he meets a rough diamond in the form of Kemal (played by the rising young Turkish/Dutch actor Hayat Van Eck) who in turn introduces Zeki to his gang of friends. His new life on the streets of Istanbul is exhilarating, until he realizes he has joined a gang of pickpockets. Embarrassed by his elevated status, Zeki remains silent but inevitably slowly suspicion grows within the gang. Eventually his secret is discovered, at which point the compound where he lives becomes a legitimate target for the gang…

“Zeki finds new freedom but when he finds out what they are doing, he is forced to ask himself the question, where do I really belong?” underlines director Gümürhan. 

Gümürhan came up with the idea for the film when he was making his highly lauded documentary Young Wrestlers (2016), also set in Turkey. For part of that production he was housed within a similarly rarefied gated community in Istanbul. The director was immediately struck by the contrast between it and the life in the city downtown. Dutch-born but of Turkish descent, Gümürhan is came to muse over what life would have been like had he been transplanted into Istanbul at an early age from his home in Rotterdam. 

Also, around that time, he had read an article about Dutch executives moving to the Turkish de facto capital to take up well-paid, higher status positions within companies and corporations. Additionally, he had been making a film about extreme physicality as a mode of expression. The mix of elements was too potent to ignore.

When, in 2018, Gümürhan first met Alihan Sahin, who plays Zeki, the young actor was only 10, but the director saw the boy’s potential early. Even then he was a keen and active free runner, and he could act well. A shift in exchange rates delayed progress on the film, and what was originally going to be a majority Turkish production became a majority Dutch production instead. Then Covid hit, causing further delays. 

But even though the casting process had to be renewed, with many other kids tested for the role of Zeki, Alihan still seemed the perfect choice for Gümürhan. The role was re-written to accommodate his advanced years (now 14) and, as importantly, the boy was still an active exponent of free running, much of which we see in the finished film. 

The complex role of Zeki’s father (Mahir) is played by prominent Dutch/Turkish actor Sinan Eroglu. Mahir is also a stranger in a strange land, overcome by grief and unaware that he his over-protective of a son who needs space and freedom. “He doesn't understand his child,” explains Gümürhan. “Because the mother was always taking care of Zeki before she died, he thinks now he has to be there a hundred percent. He’s not a bad dad but he is suffocating Zeki, only he doesn't quite realize it.”

But the beating heart of Gümürhan’s gripping, uplifting and superbly acted drama is its pure physicality. The process of getting from A to B is always described in graceful and balletic takes as Zeki free runs throughout the film, whether as an expression of his frustration or in escaping security guards in the local shopping mall.

“It feels very masculine, but there is something angelic about this movement. At times Belonging feels like a dance film. I like to use movement in my films because, for me, movement is freedom,” the director underlines. 

Belonging is produced by Stienette Bosklopper/Circe Films (NL) and Maarten Swart/Kaap Holland Film (NL), in co-production with Liman Film (TR), A Private View (BE), Kaliber Film (NL) and in collaboration with broadcaster VPRO (NL). The film is supported by the Netherlands Film Fund, Netherlands Production Incentive, CoBO Fund, Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Tax Shelter, the Turkish Ministry of Culture and the Antalya Film Forum.

Interview by Nick Cunningham