Aşrı / Distant - Short Film

Written and Directed by Ecegül Bayram

Shot by Konstantin Lyubimov

Production Design by Leticia Bianco and Ecegül Bayram

Edited by Joanie Educate

Aşrı is about a Turkish woman, Bahar, coming to terms with living with a Syrian refugee girl, Meryem, who was bought as a second wife by her husband Nihat. You see a woman whose life consisted on taking care of her husband, who was accused of being barren all throughout her life despite her husband's infertility. The recent changes in Middle East and the increased amount of refugees in Turkey brings Nihat to "purchase" a newer, younger bride, Meryem.

The story is inspired by the dozens of Turkish women who have been facing a similar situation where they had been blaming the Syrian girls but not their own husbands.

Aşrı is about a girl who has to suffer for a safe space, a woman who’s afraid of being replaced in her own home, and a man who is in denial of his infertility in a patriarchal society. Depicting an overlooked current global problem, it criticizes the world’s reaction to Syrian refugee girls being “sold” into forced marriages.

Screenings

NYU New Visions and Voices Film Festival, NY - USA 2017