Berlin Film Festival film “Yellow Letters” warns about democracy: Director

BERLIN—Berlin Film Festival marriage drama “Yellow Letters” should serve as a cautionary tale for Western audiences who believe democratic backsliding is a distant concern, not a danger that could emerge at home, said Turkish‑German director Ilker Catak.

The film, which is competing against 21 others for the festival’s top prize, focuses on what happens to a marriage under extraordinary political pressure, Catak told Reuters.

In it, Ozgu Namal and Tansu Bicer star as a married actor and playwright who lose their jobs and have to leave behind their comfortable lives after the husband is targeted by the Turkish state for posting critical content online.

“We always thought in the West that we’re immune to that kind of political repression. And now we’re realizing we’re not,” Catak said, adding it was important to protect democracy.

“You can lose your job too if you are stating the wrong political statements.”

DIRECTOR HOPES FILM SPURS REFLECTION FROM AUDIENCE

Those themes found a real-life parallel in Turkey last spring with the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival.

The arrest prompted the largest anti-government protests in a decade and led to mass detentions. The crackdown on the key opposition party has undermined the democratic credentials of EU candidate and NATO member Turkey.

Catak hoped the film would prompt reflection: “I would wish that people watch my film and they think about their own state, their own country.”

To drive home the parallels, viewers are asked to imagine that the German cities where the film was shot, Berlin and Hamburg, are Ankara and Istanbul in Turkey.

“If we had shot it in Turkey only, it would have been easy to say, ‘OK, that’s a Turkish problem,'” explained Catak.

“Yellow Letters” is Catak’s second Berlin entry after 2023’s “The Teachers’ Lounge,” which was selected as Germany’s entry for the Oscar’s best international feature film award.