A precise study of how women athletes navigate power, precarity, and the politics of the body, the film follows a young weightlifter determined to secure a lifelong state stipend awarded to international medalists.
Hatice is a young, ambitious weightlifter living with her unemployed mother, determined to make it in the highly competitive environment and in this way resolve her family’s precarious situation. Driven by this goal at any cost, she devises an unconventional form of ‘doping’ during the World Championships in heavy weight lifting: becoming pregnant to boost her hormone levels, followed by an abortion. When her plan does not unfold as expected, Hatice is forced onto unexpected and increasingly uncertain paths in pursuit of success.
The Rode Tulp Film Festival – RTFF is an annual Turkish film festival in the Netherlands. With a diverse program, the festival showcases the richness and diversity of cinema from Turkey and the region: from inspiring arthouse feature films and documentaries to short films and children’s films.
Running time: 89 minutes
Year: 2025
Country of origin: Turkey, Germany, Romania
Language: Turkish, Bosnian
Subtitles: English
Dutch premiere of the 2026 Berlinale main prize winner: a powerful portrait of love, resistance, and intellectual repression in contemporary Turkey, following two artists forced into exile within their own country after being purged for their political beliefs. Aziz, a theater director and professor at the University of Ankara, receives the “yellow letter” informing him
In Gürcan Keltek’s hypnotic fiction debut, which premiered in competition at the 2024 Locarno Film Festival, the boundaries between physical reality and spiritual transcendence slowly dissolve. After a long hospital stay, Akın returns home deeply disillusioned by Turkey’s failing healthcare system and confronted with the realization that his former life has irreversibly slipped away. Confined
After the screening: in conversation with Marco De Stefanis on the Armenian elections
