The Dance of the Rabbits 2015

The Dance of the Rabbits

The Dance of the Rabbits is a 35-minute film made in Adana, Turkey, with the collaboration of more than twenty-five volunteers.

The film unfolds through a series of independent situations. In each of them, a small misunderstanding, a glance, or a minor decision is enough to trigger violence, erasure, or collective denial. The narrative is not linear. Memory moves backward, repeats itself, and corrects its own course. What is seen is not always what actually happened.

Concepts such as honor, chastity, love, family, addiction, and social morality are neither explained nor resolved in this film. They are only observed in practice—at the moment when individuals rewrite reality into a form that is bearable enough to continue living.

The Dance of the Rabbits does not use surrealism as an aesthetic gesture. Image and narrative fracture whenever direct reality becomes intolerable. Some elements disappear. Some are displaced. Some are deliberately misrepresented.

Fragments of the filmmaker’s personal archive—including a televised interview and images from the short film Balance (2008)—are embedded in the film without introduction or disclosure. These images are not explained and are not meant to be recognized.

The film has been broadcast on Voice of America (VOA Persian).

The Dance of the Rabbits is not concerned with right or wrong.
It focuses on the moment when everyone agrees to pretend they did not see something.

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Director’s Statement

I did not make this film to clarify anything.
On the contrary, I made it to record moments when certainty collapses.

Parts of this film are shaped by my lived experiences, but they are not faithful reconstructions of those experiences. Memory is not reliable in this film—just as it is not reliable in life.

In The Dance of the Rabbits, the narrative repeatedly breaks, rewinds, and rearranges itself. Not as a formal exercise, but because some situations become unbearable when told directly.

I am not interested in ready-made morality. Nor in endings that reassure the viewer. This film does not attempt to fix anything or save anyone. It only observes the point at which people decide not to see something and collectively agree to move on.

In this film, certain elements are omitted, some are intentionally misrepresented, and others are left entirely unexplained. These decisions are deliberate.

If, after watching the film, you are left without certainty—if you cannot clearly determine who is right—or if you find yourself reconstructing certain scenes in your own mind, then the film has done its work.

I would prefer this film not to be seen as an answer.
If anything remains, it is an open question that refuses to close.

Acknowledgment

This film would not exist without the time, trust, and generosity of everyone who participated in its making.

I would like to sincerely thank all the volunteers who contributed their energy, patience, and presence to this project. Your collaboration made this film possible.

Thank you for standing by the work and for being part of its creation.