The List of Those Who Love Me
Yilmaz is the most popular drug dealer in a celebrity-packed district of Istanbul. He is always invited to the hottest parties and to rougher binges with a limited number of family participants. Among other big players, his circle of friends includes well-known actors and musicians who all love Yilmaz. Until his pockets stay filled with grams upon grams of happiness. When the market suddenly dries up, the man’s paranoia grows as he watches his phone receiving ever fewer calls and texts from his best friends day by day. Yilmaz has no other option than to speak up.
‘The List of Those Who Love Me’ is a wildly neat combination of Scorsese-like classic elements and a sharp cross-section of today’s society, the sub-currents of the cultural sphere of which are driven by all kinds of recreational substances. The cherry on the cake for the thoroughly contemplated dramaturgy and camera direction that infallibly keeps to the beat comes from the aesthetics of the 16 mm analogue film which self-knowingly flirts with the eventualities of the notorious velvet underworld.
Screenwriter and director Emre Erdogdu gives the viewers a long-awaited brisk breath of fresh air in the drama genre and whisks them along on a self-forgettingly thought-filled journey on the trails of the meaning of self-realisation. Without a hint of exaggeration, ‘The List of Those Who Love Me’ is the number one Turkish film that is a ‘must see’ this year.
Elise Eimre
Emre Erdoğdu (b. 1990) dropped out collage (Istanbul Marmara University) to chase his dream which was always filmmaking. After a few short films and directing experiences, he wrote and directed his first medium length film "The First Day of Human History" in 2015 and his first feature "Snow" in 2017. In 2021, he directed the comedy series "Bonkis" that was a Blu TV original production and he co-directed a drama installation "The Fire Within Me" written and co-directed by Halil Babür. He already started the script development of his third feature film project Gelecek Gelecek that is planned to be completed in 2023. "The List of Those Who Love Me" is Erdoğdu's second full-length fiction drama.
Kar (Snow, 2017), Beni Sevenler Listesi (The List of Those Who Love Me, 2021)
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
