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Dormitory (Yurt)

Dormitory (Yurt)

Movie · 2023 · 2 people

Yurt (internationally titled Dormitory) is a 2023 coming-of-age drama written and directed by Nehir Tuna, his first feature, drawn from his own youth and co-produced by Turkey, Germany and France. It premiered in the Horizons section of the 80th Venice Film Festival in September 2023, competed there for the Queer Lion, and won best screenplay at the Bisato d'Oro awards of Italian independent critics.

Ahmet is a 14-year-old in the preparatory year of high school at a private college in Thrace. His father, newly devoted to Islam, places him in a dormitory for boys. Torn from a warm home, Ahmet tries to meet his father's expectations while struggling with school and dormitory rules. Belonging nowhere, he finds his only refuge with Hakan, one of the senior boarders, and the thrill of breaking rules together starts him making his own choices. The cast includes Doğa Karakaş, Can Bartu Aslan and Ozan Çelik.

After Venice the film screened in Sofia, Gothenburg and Tallinn, competed for the Golden Tulip with seven other new Turkish features in the National Competition of the 43rd Istanbul Film Festival, and opened in Turkish theaters on May 17, 2024. Reviews were favorable; one critic noted that Tuna, known for his shorts, aimed for a personal directorial style.

DirectorNehir Tuna

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Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Yurt is Nehir Tuna's first feature, a coming-of-age drama drawn from his own youth; premiering in Venice's Horizons section and winning best screenplay at the Bisato d'Oro awards suggests its writing was judged its strength. The story follows 14-year-old Ahmet, torn from a warm home and placed in a religious dormitory, caught between two pressures: his father's expectations and the rules of school and dormitory. First films drawn from personal experience often struggle to balance closeness and distance, and Tuna's effort to build a personal directorial style earned favorable reviews. For anyone curious to watch a director known for his shorts move to features, the key is how the bond between Ahmet and Hakan, one of the senior boarders, is built.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Yurt looks at how a father's newfound piety reorganizes his son's life. Ahmet, who attends a private college in Thrace, is placed by his father's decision in a religious dormitory for boys, so two separate worlds of schooling, the college and the dormitory, come to rest on one child's shoulders. The film captures a reality in which a family's transformation makes its decisions without asking the child. Ahmet, belonging nowhere, finding his own way by breaking rules is youth's familiar answer to pressure. The film shows most plainly how schooling and faith intertwine with family decisions in the moments when Ahmet tries to live up to his father's expectations.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

At the heart of Yurt is a 14-year-old taken from his family by his father's decision and placed in a religious dormitory; pressure, loneliness and family expectations are its heavy themes. It is not suitable for young children. If you are thinking of watching with a teenager, have an adult watch it alone first. If it passes, it can be a good opening to talk about the expectations between a father and a son.

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