September 12 / 12 Eylül
2010, digibeta, Color (16th Festival on Wheels)
Director(s)
Özlem Sulak
Country(s)
Türkiye
Genre(s)
Other
Script
Özlem Sulak
Photography
Özlem Sulak
Editing
Özlem Sulak
Music
Animation
Cast
Günseli Dum, Mustafa Dum, Orhan Esen, Levent Fahri Güneş, Gül Haliman, Hilmi Kabukçu, Nurşen Kızılbayır, Sıtkı Olçar, Sabri Özevren, Dilsaz Padar, Atika Sesürgen, Halime Sulak, Metin Sübekçi, Fahri Türken, Lütfü Varol, Muharrem Yalçın, Nihat Yalçın, Emine Yelkenbiçer
Production
Özlem Sulak, Liebigstrasse 32A Hannover 30163 Germany T +49 511 488 99243 | ozlemsulak@googlemail.com
Distribution
Awards
Plot
30 years ago, on September 12, 1980, a right-wing military coup d’état led by General Kenan
Evren took state power in Turkey, established martial law, abolished political parties, trade
unions and democratic rights. Coming after nearly a decade of social and political conflicts often
bordering on civil war, the coup unleashed a wave of repression against working class and leftwing
opponents of the Turkish regime.
The Coup d’etat not only destroyed the entire opposition in Turkey and took away the basic
liberties but also led to more than 20 years of silence. This meant that there would absolutely be
no voicing of political opinion for the generations to come. September 12 conveys the encounters
of 17 people on the days leading up to the Coup. The personal accounts range across the
spectrum of society, giving the supporters as well as the opponents of the putsch their space to
express what happened. Up to the present, life in Turkey is measured by “before” and “after” the
coup when talking about politics, music, art or literature.