IN PASSING (2026)
Essay Documentary
69′
United Kingdom, Turkey
2026
Director: Yusuf Emre Yalçın
Producers: Ezgi Selin Ülkü, Kanat Doğramacı, Yusuf Emre Yalçın
Production Companies: Paspas Film, Maya Films
Post Production: Postgarden
In Passing is a self-portrait of a life in transition, an essay film about fragmented memory, belonging, and the attempt to start over somewhere that isn’t yours.
After immigrating from Turkey to London, Emre works in hospitality to make a living while his marriage dissolves and his career and identity shift. He moves through the city in a second language, among people who arrive and leave constantly. To cope with the uncertainty of a precarious life, he practises “safe space” exercises, but a recurring figure disrupts these moments and deepens his sense of alienation.
Moving between cities, cafés, and the filmmaker’s inner world, the film unfolds as a visual journal kept from the in-between space. Places change, connections form and unravel, routine carries on and belonging shifts over time.
ANIMA (2021)
https://mubi.com/films/anima-2021
Essay Documentary
39′
Turkey
2021
Director – Yusuf Emre Yalçın
Producers – Ezgi Selin Ülkü, Cemre Yılmaz, Yusuf Emre Yalçın
Camera & Editing – Yusuf Emre Yalçın
Production Company – Paspas Film
Anima explores the influence different cultures and beliefs have upon the relationships between humans and animals by travelling to different regions around Turkey and witnessing a range of events. Set against the backdrop of personal memories and dreams, Anima investigates the ideologies and rituals associated with sacredness and sacrifice.
The journey starts at a camel wrestling-cum-beauty contest in the Aegean region of Turkey. During this contest, Anima juxtaposes the attitudes of a patriarchal society with the director’s questioning of his own identity as he recollects his relationship with—and alienation from—his own community.
Anima then heads to Konya in Central Anatolia, populated almost entirely by conservative Muslim Turks. During the “Festival of the Sacrifice”, Anima follows the trajectory of a sacrificial ceremony, beginning at a live animal market and culminating with an Imam’s sermon. In the process, the director recounts childhood memories of a cow being sacrificed and questions of the dynamics of gender and species through the lens of his relationship with his father and religion.
The journey continues in the Dersim Region, inhabited mostly by Kurdish and Zazaki people. There, Anima observes a different belief system based on Zoroastrianism. While exploring different locations in Dersim that are considered sacred by locals, Anima follows the lives of a cow, a goat, a Zarathustra, and of several local villagers. From that point on, the lines between memories, dreams, reality, and fiction start to blur.
AWARDS:
- 40. Istanbul Film Festival, National Documentary Competition, Best Documentary Award, 2021.
SCREENINGS and nominations:
- 3. Yapı Kredi Sanat Dünyamız Film Festival, 2026
- Burhak Hayvan Hakları Çalışma Merkezi, Special Screening, 2025
- 14. Which Human Rights? Film Festival 2024
- Postane Istanbul & Altyazı – Culture and Nature Films Programme, 2023
- Istanbul International VEGFEST, 2022
- 54. SIYAD Turkish Cinema Awards, Best Documentary Nominee, 2022.
- 9. Uşak Short Film Festival, Best Cinmatographer Nominee, 2022.
- ODTÜ Cinema Festival ’22, Official Selection, 2022.
- 40. Istanbul Film Festival, National Documentary Competition, Official Selection, 2021.
- 14. Documentarist Istanbul Documentary Days, FIPRESCI Awards Nominee, 2021.