Sirkhana darkroom A mobile photography is dark, education, passion and most importantly to ignore communities in Turkey, where children face limited access to education and safety, especially after devastating earthquakes that regularly rock the region.
A acclaimed documentary, First frameAbout 30 minutes of film, which is Available for online viewing As part of the Wetransfeer’s Weprest series, focuses on children who have fallen in love with photography, not as subjects, but as storytellers themselves and growing artists and people who are not completely defined who have happened to them.
“After the struggle in Syria, Iraq and here, we are trying to bring various communities together,” says Salih.
The film’s Amy-Namiksa Director and Cinematographer, Ili MitaruA friend joined the project after sending him an Instagram account for a mobile photo darkroom, Sirkhana darkroomThe project was initially launched by Turkish photographer Amel ArnebantAnd Salih developed it further and continued the initiative, although he was filmed since the “First Frame”. Sirkhane Darkroom continues under the leadership of a team of volunteers dedicated.
“I got an immediate response to how much intestinal and energetic children were,” Mitaru explains. “They were so sure about themselves, alive, and intimate – I was so surprised that the children who had just picked the cameras could catch such images.”
Mitaru’s friend introduced him to Salih, and he hit it immediately.
“He is one of the most selfless people I have ever met and oriented the whole life in this work,” says about Mataru Serbast Salih. After her first conversation, the project that became the “first frame” quickly became physical.
“I wanted to tell the story from the child’s point of view, to rely too much on my photos and videos, to embrace his thinking strange, bizarre, magical nature and not as a passive topics of his often-but not as a fickle, flexible and complex individuals,” the director says.
A child, Zumra, left a powerful impression on Mitaru during production. She is “a surprisingly independent thinker,” Mitaru says. “I wish, we could have been a week a week with him and his family.”
Zumra’s family house was destroyed in the February 2023 earthquakes in Türkiye, and when the film production team met him, he was staying in a container camp. Salih gave Zumra a camera, which she took to a local market. Although it was just seven years old at that time, she quickly realized that people saw her in a different way after having a camera in her hand and treated her.
“It took me a long time to understand and understand me completely (this dynamic),” Mitaru. “It blew me that this seven -year -old girl saw it so fast and was able to clarify it so well.”
Finally, Mataru’s biggest goal for “First Frames” is to bring the audience into the children’s world because they find new ways to express themselves and feel with the first hand that photography can give them, whether it is capturing her world, or perhaps experiencing it more positively.
Although Sirkhana Darkroom is specific for weak and refugee children living around the Turkish-Syrian border, how photography has touched their lives, it is something with universal relativity.
“While the reference to our film is definitely unique, I hope that ‘First Frames’ promote a deep understanding and sympathy for weak children around the world,” says Mataru.
These children have made everyone feel painful, but they are not their trauma. Those artists are growing, thanks to the selflessness of the Amel Aranebant, Serbast Salah, and many others, learning to express themselves in new ways and are forging new bonds with those who have never met if they have never met if mobile photography is not for darkrooms. Photography has immense power, and the “first frame” shows it in a very powerful way.
Credit: Directed by ‘First Frames’ Ili MitaruWho is also the cinematographer of the film. Luke Boelitz Does additional cinematography while, while Zayenap bilginsoy Is the manufacturer and Yalda Mustajeran Is the editor. Available to watch movies Now on the Wetrans website of Wetransfer.
