It’s been a long time coming, but now I can happily announce my latest film, Istanbul!
Istanbul is my first attempt to model the human form, and also is more plot based then my previous films (seems plot plays more of an element in each successive film, doesn’t it?). The story follows two merchants (A and B, as described below) as they attempt to woo an unnamed customer into buying some fruit, becoming more and more desperate as the day progresses.


You can watch Istanbul here. Repeat if desired, and feedback is very much appreciated.The film is primarily inspired by my family’s travels in Istanbul a few years ago. The bazaars were never empty there; on the contrary the amount of humanity packed between the vendors was comparable to a 747 flight’s boarding terminal. Funnily enough, the merchants’ desperation to attract customers was so strong even with the masses of people that I could not help but wonder about what would happen if there was only one potential buyer. The idea turned into a simple plot, the simple plot became simpler, and what we are left with is this movie.

Why the name Istanbul? It was the first idea that came to my head, but I was hoping to come up with a more unique combination of letters for the film (it’s better for Google rankings, no?)… so I decided to put off the naming until I could find some inspiration. That inspiration came long after the film premiered at my high school’s culture show, Pangaea. Someone recommended this Orhan Pamuk book to me. I should have read it before I finished the film, (it describes the city in cinematic detail) but nevertheless gave me all the convincing I needed to use the title.

In other news, this website has undergone several changes since I last spoke with you. In addition to a graphic redesign (which, in theory, ought make the new site easier on the eyes), now the latest videos are served directly from my server using Quicktime instead of being hosted on Google Video. This means that the videos should look much crisper and smoother and still be reasonably quick to load. So far it has worked flawlessly, but let me know if you have any problems.

And speaking of Pangaea (last year’s performance was where Ancestor’s Tale was previewed, by the way), Istanbul was not the only film in the playbill. A fellow student premiered an excellent live-action drama called “Claire” which was received very warmly. The film can be enjoyed here (though you might want some popcorn, it’s a long one).

Now we are excitedly discussing the very real possibility of working together on some projects, which of course will be documented here. We live in the first time where there are very little restrictions in terms of editing and distribution that previous independent filmmakers had to deal with, and we hope to take full advantage of this. I’ll update soon.