Invisible to the Eye

Synopsis

Inspired by Istanbul-born Armenian intellectual Eremya Celebi Komurciyan's travel diaries from the 17th century, Invisible to the Eye traces this particular itinerary in today’s Istanbul. As a cinematic travelogue in a contemporary Istanbul, the film explores Komurciyan’s farsighted relationship with the concepts of looking, seeing, and viewing. In his book titled History of Istanbul: Istanbul in the Seventeenth Century, Komurciyan talks to the reader as if he has a camera in hand. When we translate his ‘cinematic eye’ to a contemporary setting, there emerges an endless path on to the multifaceted visual history of this long-standing city.

Director Biography

Zeynep Dadak holds a PhD from the Cinema Studies Department at NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Co-written and directed with her long time collaborator Merve Kayan, her debut feature film Mavi Dalga (The Blue Wave, 2013) had its international premiere at 64th Berlin Film Festival. Including the short film Bu Sahilde (On the Coast, 2010), her films were screened at prestigious film festivals such as Rotterdam, Sheffield, San Francisco and Jeonju, winning several awards both in and outside Turkey. She has taught film in different universities worldwide. Zeynep was selected for the Medienboard Artist in Residence in Berlin in 2018 and Berlin Senate’s Artist Fellowship Program in 2019. During this time, she has finished her Turkey- Germany co-production feature-length creative documentary Invisible to the Eye, produced by Fenafilm, her own production company. Currently based in Berlin and Istanbul, she is working on her new film, Electric Sleep.