Official Selection Competition Best Director

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 Izzet’s father Abdi, a withdrawn school-bus driver, invites Izzet along for a drive in search of the magical plant and possible remedy.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