Since the Gezi park protests in Türkiye ten years ago, the current government has censored many media platforms. With the government now directing the narrative and no counter voice the public has been made to either show allegiance or be labeled as anarchists or terrorists. As a result, the nation became divided as citizens took sides and much anger and hate has been caused amongst the public. This is a common strategy used historically by governments throughout the world. By fighting each other we take our eyes away from those who have ulterior motivations. It is a scenario that people from all over the world will be able to relate to and sadly the same plot could have been done in countless other countries. When we finally learn to look away from the distractions we realize that those that were enemies are in fact friends and amongst uncertainty, we can use our conscience and humanity to find the truth.
Since the Gezi park protests in Türkiye ten years ago, the current government has censored many media platforms. With the government now directing the narrative and no counter voice the public has been made to either show allegiance or be labeled as anarchists or terrorists. As a result, the nation became divided as citizens took sides and much anger and hate has been caused amongst the public. This is a common strategy used historically by governments throughout the world. By fighting each other we take our eyes away from those who have ulterior motivations. It is a scenario that people from all over the world will be able to relate to and sadly the same plot could have been done in countless other countries. When we finally learn to look away from the distractions we realize that those that were enemies are in fact friends and amongst uncertainty, we can use our conscience and humanity to find the truth.
Since the Gezi park protests in Türkiye ten years ago, the current government has censored many media platforms. With the government now directing the narrative and no counter voice the public has been made to either show allegiance or be labeled as anarchists or terrorists. As a result, the nation became divided as citizens took sides and much anger and hate has been caused amongst the public. This is a common strategy used historically by governments throughout the world. By fighting each other we take our eyes away from those who have ulterior motivations. It is a scenario that people from all over the world will be able to relate to and sadly the same plot could have been done in countless other countries. When we finally learn to look away from the distractions we realize that those that were enemies are in fact friends and amongst uncertainty, we can use our conscience and humanity to find the truth.
Since the Gezi park protests in Türkiye ten years ago, the current government has censored many media platforms. With the government now directing the narrative and no counter voice the public has been made to either show allegiance or be labeled as anarchists or terrorists. As a result, the nation became divided as citizens took sides and much anger and hate has been caused amongst the public. This is a common strategy used historically by governments throughout the world. By fighting each other we take our eyes away from those who have ulterior motivations. It is a scenario that people from all over the world will be able to relate to and sadly the same plot could have been done in countless other countries. When we finally learn to look away from the distractions we realize that those that were enemies are in fact friends and amongst uncertainty, we can use our conscience and humanity to find the truth.
Year 2023
100th Anniversary of Republic of Türkiye
204
Media Boards has been shut down and hundreds of journalists were arrested.
2000
Universities, schools, classrooms and dormitories has been closed down
150,000
Public servants have been purged since 2016
2,000,000
The government launched investigations against two million citizens.
“If we look at the human timeline, democracy has only existed for a short period of time. For centuries we have been ruled by kings, queens, Tsars, Emperors and Sultans. Then slowly people started to rise up and many countries faced revolutions where the rulers were toppled, and replaced with democracy. However recently, people are beginning to not trust the system. People believe that their democracy has been hijacked by bureaucracy and self-interest and the needs of the majority clash with the self-interest of the minority. ”
“If we look at the human timeline, democracy has only existed for a short period of time. For centuries we have been ruled by kings, queens, Tsars, Emperors and Sultans. Then slowly people started to rise up and many countries faced revolutions where the rulers were toppled, and replaced with democracy. However recently, people are beginning to not trust the system. People believe that their democracy has been hijacked by bureaucracy and self-interest and the needs of the majority clash with the self-interest of the minority. ”
Every single one of us. You, your loved ones, and myself can all be perceived as enemies of the state. The person that was your friend, your ally is suddenly your enemy.
Every single one of us. You, your loved ones, and myself can all be perceived as enemies of the state. The person that was your friend, your ally is suddenly your enemy.
Hakan Arıkan - Exodus
Hakan Arıkan - Exodus
Directors Statement
Directors Statement
Humans have been migrating since the dawn of civilisation. For centuries migration has been driven by many factors from weather, food, war to slavery, religious persecution, employment, and human rights abuse, soon in the future we will see a rise in migration due to climate change. Whatever the cause, currently migration seems to be the big topic in every corner of the world and every country has the immigration issue very close to their politics. The immigrant story is usually met with negative connotations. Many people including the media and politicians perpetuate the myth that any problems we face could be caused by immigration and unfortunately this rhetoric has gained momentum in many countries. Migrants are seen as a burden rather than attracting sympathy. I wanted to show another perspective. We often hear of migrants in terms of numbers. We often forget that behind those numbers are individuals all with their own stories. This is what drew me to the project. I wanted to go beyond the headlines and seek the real people and look at their individual stories, and by doing that I was hoping to give them a voice and show the humanitarian side of it. To recognise that these people are just like us who have been put in unfortunate situations through no fault of their own.
Our film is set in Turkey, but the sad reality is that in truth I could have told the same story and set it in numerous other countries that are also forcing people to flee. My focus was not on the political situation as I did not find that neither engaging or relevant but I was more interested in the fall out and how it effects normal people.
As someone who has grown up never ever having to think of migration, I was fascinated by putting myself in that situation where I asked myself what would I do if I suddenly had to drop everything, I called home and family in order to flee? I decided to open with the story of Hakan, an academic who is deemed an enemy of the state yet not having done anything wrong. I thought the idea of a character who is charismatic, successful, and full of life made the character more accessible. I wanted the audience to feel like this could happen to any one of us. It is for this reason that I did not want to focus exclusively on the horrors of migration but to also show the real human moments. The sense of humour, family and love. This was important to me to again emphasise that these people are no different to you and we all universally share the same hopes and fears. All our characters are based on real stories and events and I wanted to show that the horrors people go through also extends to those left behind and family members who all suffer from losing loved ones.
My goal was to give a human face to the migration issue and at its heart Exodus is a story of desperation, love, persecution, compassion, and individuals will to survive.
Humans have been migrating since the dawn of civilisation. For centuries migration has been driven by many factors from weather, food, war to slavery, religious persecution, employment, and human rights abuse, soon in the future we will see a rise in migration due to climate change. Whatever the cause, currently migration seems to be the big topic in every corner of the world and every country has the immigration issue very close to their politics. The immigrant story is usually met with negative connotations. Many people including the media and politicians perpetuate the myth that any problems we face could be caused by immigration and unfortunately this rhetoric has gained momentum in many countries. Migrants are seen as a burden rather than attracting sympathy. I wanted to show another perspective. We often hear of migrants in terms of numbers. We often forget that behind those numbers are individuals all with their own stories. This is what drew me to the project. I wanted to go beyond the headlines and seek the real people and look at their individual stories, and by doing that I was hoping to give them a voice and show the humanitarian side of it. To recognise that these people are just like us who have been put in unfortunate situations through no fault of their own.
Our film is set in Turkey, but the sad reality is that in truth I could have told the same story and set it in numerous other countries that are also forcing people to flee. My focus was not on the political situation as I did not find that neither engaging or relevant but I was more interested in the fall out and how it effects normal people.
As someone who has grown up never ever having to think of migration, I was fascinated by putting myself in that situation where I asked myself what would I do if I suddenly had to drop everything, I called home and family in order to flee? I decided to open with the story of Hakan, an academic who is deemed an enemy of the state yet not having done anything wrong. I thought the idea of a character who is charismatic, successful, and full of life made the character more accessible. I wanted the audience to feel like this could happen to any one of us. It is for this reason that I did not want to focus exclusively on the horrors of migration but to also show the real human moments. The sense of humour, family and love. This was important to me to again emphasise that these people are no different to you and we all universally share the same hopes and fears. All our characters are based on real stories and events and I wanted to show that the horrors people go through also extends to those left behind and family members who all suffer from losing loved ones.
My goal was to give a human face to the migration issue and at its heart Exodus is a story of desperation, love, persecution, compassion, and individuals will to survive.
Serkan Nihat
Murat Kesgin
Executive Producer’s Statement
Executive Producer’s Statement
The total number of migrants now make up 3% of the world’s population and this number looks certain to rise. Migration has become one of the most important issues in the world today and it seems every nation has migration at the top of their politics.
Many nations spend resources trying to find ‘solutions’ to the migrant situation facing them. The current attempt to tackle the migrant influx is to drive migrants away. This can be seen first-hand where we see rhetoric of building walls, defending borders, or worse sending migrants to other overseas countries to tackle the problem. It seems that countries often spend time talking about solutions to the migrant issue rather than tackling the main cause of the issue in the first place. This is because the ugly truth of migration is that many of those countries that announce that they have a ‘migrant’ problem can often be found to be actively involved in creating the migrant issue in the first place. This is because many nations are actively involved in foreign policy where the self interest of that country is not necessarily what is best for another country. This self-interest takes the form of; a reliance on or claiming ownership on resources, strategic military bases or arms sales. Nations will do whatever it takes to fulfil their own self-interests from over throwing democratic governments to embargos in order to get what they want. This almost always leads to war and economic crashes which ultimately leads to a failed state which in turn creates unrest and ultimately displacement. This havoc will often lead to power vacuums which are filled by opportunist or militant tribes and regimes.
Around the world one of the biggest causes of displacement is the sheer amount of rogue states, corrupt or authoritarian regimes which can be found in every continent around the world. What history teaches us about these regimes is that the citizens must choose whether they side with the regime or be seen as an enemy of the state. In order to side with a regime you yourself end up taking on the characteristics of that immoral and corrupt regime These are the tell-tale signs that an authoritarian/corrupt regime is in place when a nation is split into two sides and this is becoming more and more common even in so called ‘developed’ nations. By pitting citizens against each other those in power can continue to do as they please and in order to take a side you must commit to the ideology of that party in totality which in itself makes it impossible to find a middle ground. These types of regimes always end the same way. Either the regime fleeces a country for all its wealth or is toppled but either way the country always falls to its knees and the damage absorbed by the citizens lasts for decades., The bottom line is that it is always the civilians who always out number soldier casualties and migration os a necessity of that.
In this story, my primary goal has been to be a voice for those people and tell their stories, to make people question both themselves and the system. We have characters who on the surface should hate each other but through dialogue they find they have far more in common than they’d be led to believe. It is for this reason that we included reference to Plato’s cave analogy where if we were to be able to take a step back and see the world for what it is we would realise that we are all the same and that we have in fact been pitted against each other so the real cause of mayhem can operate with immunity. Ultimately as long as a nation has hope and freedom people wont have reasons to leave their homelands, but if there is a threat to hope and freedom and nations refuse to stop their conflicts of interest the migration issue will be an everlasting cycle and innocent people unfortunately will be condemned to pay the price of hope and freedom with their lives.
The total number of migrants now make up 3% of the world’s population and this number looks certain to rise. Migration has become one of the most important issues in the world today and it seems every nation has migration at the top of their politics.
Many nations spend resources trying to find ‘solutions’ to the migrant situation facing them. The current attempt to tackle the migrant influx is to drive migrants away. This can be seen first-hand where we see rhetoric of building walls, defending borders, or worse sending migrants to other overseas countries to tackle the problem. It seems that countries often spend time talking about solutions to the migrant issue rather than tackling the main cause of the issue in the first place. This is because the ugly truth of migration is that many of those countries that announce that they have a ‘migrant’ problem can often be found to be actively involved in creating the migrant issue in the first place. This is because many nations are actively involved in foreign policy where the self interest of that country is not necessarily what is best for another country. This self-interest takes the form of; a reliance on or claiming ownership on resources, strategic military bases or arms sales. Nations will do whatever it takes to fulfil their own self-interests from over throwing democratic governments to embargos in order to get what they want. This almost always leads to war and economic crashes which ultimately leads to a failed state which in turn creates unrest and ultimately displacement. This havoc will often lead to power vacuums which are filled by opportunist or militant tribes and regimes.
Around the world one of the biggest causes of displacement is the sheer amount of rogue states, corrupt or authoritarian regimes which can be found in every continent around the world. What history teaches us about these regimes is that the citizens must choose whether they side with the regime or be seen as an enemy of the state. In order to side with a regime you yourself end up taking on the characteristics of that immoral and corrupt regime These are the tell-tale signs that an authoritarian/corrupt regime is in place when a nation is split into two sides and this is becoming more and more common even in so called ‘developed’ nations. By pitting citizens against each other those in power can continue to do as they please and in order to take a side you must commit to the ideology of that party in totality which in itself makes it impossible to find a middle ground. These types of regimes always end the same way. Either the regime fleeces a country for all its wealth or is toppled but either way the country always falls to its knees and the damage absorbed by the citizens lasts for decades., The bottom line is that it is always the civilians who always out number soldier casualties and migration os a necessity of that.
In this story, my primary goal has been to be a voice for those people and tell their stories, to make people question both themselves and the system. We have characters who on the surface should hate each other but through dialogue they find they have far more in common than they’d be led to believe. It is for this reason that we included reference to Plato’s cave analogy where if we were to be able to take a step back and see the world for what it is we would realise that we are all the same and that we have in fact been pitted against each other so the real cause of mayhem can operate with immunity. Ultimately as long as a nation has hope and freedom people wont have reasons to leave their homelands, but if there is a threat to hope and freedom and nations refuse to stop their conflicts of interest the migration issue will be an everlasting cycle and innocent people unfortunately will be condemned to pay the price of hope and freedom with their lives.
Executive Producer
Executive Producer
Ender Zirekoglu is a serial entrepreneur based in the US, with a primary focus on the real estate industry, as well as investments in the media and production sectors. He recently expanded his portfolio to include movie production with his debut feature film, Exodus. Exodus showcases his passion for storytelling and his commitment to delivering high-quality content across various industries.
Ender Zirekoglu is a serial entrepreneur based in the US, with a primary focus on the real estate industry, as well as investments in the media and production sectors. He recently expanded his portfolio to include movie production with his debut feature film, Exodus. Exodus showcases his passion for storytelling and his commitment to delivering high-quality content across various industries.
Ender Zirekoglu
© 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
© 2024 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED