A Dog's Story of Pandemic: 'Woof at Home Turkey'

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Nisan Uğur shot her first movie, "Zinko," when she was 12. "This is how I started shooting films," she says.

Zinko was about what her stuffed dog toy, which she had always kept with herself, was doing when it was home alone. With this movie, she was awarded "the best young director" in the 2016 Rotary Short film Competition.

Nisan, whose curiosity towards cinema started during her middle school years and who wanted to go beyond being a watcher and to shoot films, is 16 years old today.

The name of her second movie, which she made during the quarantine period, is "Evde Hav Türkiye," or "Woof at Home Turkey," a wordplay with the "stay at home" slogan.

Having made the movie with a good quality camera, Nisan says, "I have a lot of dreams for the future, directing is of course among them."

"May favorite movie is White God"

"I love watching movies. My favorite movie is Kornél Mundruczó's 'White God.' That's a film that affected me very much, I also want to make such movies in the future. One of my favorite directors is Luc Besson, and his "Leon" movie is also among my favorites."

"I can't participate in many festivals because of my age, this is what makes me sad the most. Other than that, I get good reactions from people around me and they constructively support me. I like this situation. I follow my dreams and want everyone to do so."

About the plot of her new movie, she says, "My dog, Alex, which usually stays alone, has begun to stay with us for long periods of time because of the corona. A weird situation emerged through its eyes. The entire movie is through its eyes and tries to explain this weird situation. With English subtitles, I started to participate in short film competitions abroad and at home. I hope I will succeed."

"My source of motivation was Alex"

How did she find the motivation to make a movie during the quarantine period?

"Actually, being at home didn't affect me very much. Spending more time with Alex always makes me very happy, but this time I decided to look at it through its eyes and this is how I chose to observe it. I decided to write thse down, then I scripted it and then we shot [the movie].

"I liked it very much, I wanted to give some messages to people with my movie, I hope it will make an effect. Of course, animal rights is my most important message. Besides, we can learn what we value in life best from animals. My source of motivation was, again, to look at the events through Alex's eyes." (AÖ/VK)