World premiere

LifeLike

Local title
Üheskoos üksi
Original title
Bir Arada Yalnız
Director
Ali Vatansever
Country
Turkey, Greece, Romania
Year
2025
Festival
29th Black Nights Film Festival
Programme
Official Selection - Competition
Genre
Drama
Subject
familial relationships, religion, death, suicide, journey, virtual reality

A mesmerising mix of VR-Chat 3D avatars, Instagram stories and raw drama.

Social media gives us the chance to escape reality, invent new identities and avoid the pain of the real world. People only post what they want others to see, while keeping their true selves hidden. VR-Chat offers endless possibilities in stunning rooms where you can lose hours interacting with vibrant avatars whose real-life stories remain a mystery.

For the terminally ill Izzet, time is nearly up. Doctors have given up, prayers and rituals offer little help, and his family’s future is now in God’s hands. So Izzet spends his time in virtual reality, roaming through the astonishing and otherworldly places of the virtual cosmos. He even meets his girlfriend there…

His mother, Reyhan, pretends as if nothing’s wrong, and takes refuge in social media, smiling for her followers. In reality, she has become fixated on a wild plant rumoured to be able to cure his son. Izzet’s father Abdi, a withdrawn school-bus driver, invites Izzet along for a drive in search of the magical plant and possible remedy.

Selin and Ali, the sibling producer-director duo captivatingly connect the real and the virtual. Actors play their avatars, and the camera work immerses viewers in the virtual anime world of endless possibilities.

Edvinas Pukšta

Director
Ali Vatansever
Screenwriter
Ali Vatansever
Cast
Fatih Al, Esra Kızıldoğan, Onur Gözeten
Producer
Selin Vatansever Tezcan, Oya Özden Özdemir, Serra Cagatay, Aytun Aktan Bahçeci, Antigoni Rota, Stelios Cotionis, Alexandru Dumitru
Cinematographer
Konstantinos Koukoulios
Production Design
Meral Efe Yurtseven, Emre Yurtseven
Editing
Evren Luş, Feyza Kayıkçı
Music
Erdem Helvacıoğlu
Sound
Alexandru Dumitru
Production
Terminal Film, Aktan Görsel Sanatlar, Foss Productions, Da Clique SRL
Sound
Da Clique SRL, Chainsaw Europe
Runtime
Language
Turkish
Subtitles
Estonian, English
Director
Ali Vatansever

Ali Vatansever (1981) was born in Istanbul, and studied industrial product design and film and TV there. After that he continued his studies at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, studying film production. In 2003, he started his career directing short films. His debute feature, “El Yazısı” (“One Day or Another”, 2012), was screened at numerous international film festivals and was distributed in movie theatres throughout Turkey. His second feature, “Saf” (2018), premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. In addition to filmmaking, he has taught film production at Koç University and Istanbul Technical University. He is the co-founder of Terminal Film production company.

Filmography:
El Yazisi (2012), Saf (2018), Bir Arada Yalniz (LifeLike, 2025)

Grand Prix for The Best Film, grant of 20 000 euros from the city of Tallinn, Award for Best Director, grant of 5000€ from Alexela

Screenings

1st Lux Hall Apollo Kino Coca-Cola Plaza
Screening100115 / Üheskoos üksi
SubtitlesEnglish, Estonian
Q&A duration
Screening duration