EXCLUSIVE: Trailer for Tallinn Competition title LifeLike
- Ali Vatansever’s feature follows a family living on the 20th floor of a social-housing block, where a 19-year-old man faces the final stages of illness
Cineuropa exclusively unveils the trailer for LifeLike [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the new feature by Turkish writer-director Ali Vatansever, just as it world-premieres in the international competition of this year's Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film first screened on 16 November.
Making his return after Saf [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Ali Vatansever
film profile] (2018), Vatansever continues to explore the tensions between social reality and intimate moral dilemmas. LifeLike draws inspiration from modern Turkey’s first euthanasia lawsuit, using this real-life case as a springboard for a delicate reflection on compassion, agency and the narratives we construct to cope with mortality.
The film follows a family living on the 20th floor of a social-housing block, where 19-year-old İzzet faces the final stages of illness. As his mother turns to social media in a desperate search for cures and his father retreats into faith, İzzet disappears into VRChat, finding solace in a parallel world where avatars can rewrite their destinies. The virtual sphere is not merely a setting, but a formal device: several scenes were shot within VRChat, with the actors performing as avatars in real time, expanding the film’s exploration of reality, embodiment and escape.
Starring Fatih Al, Esra Kızıldoğan and Onur Gözeten in the leading roles, LifeLike was produced by Terminal Film (Turkey), Aktan Görsel Sanatlar (Turkey), Foss Productions (Greece) and Da Clique (Romania), with support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture, TRT and ERT.
Check out our exclusive trailer below:
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