credits
Being part of the creative process of the Yapı Kredi Afife Theater Awards is an honor, which keeps on exciting us every year. In this ceremony, which was like a reconnection with the audience after the pandemic, we had to find a statement that would symbolize this comeback and express our longing for the theater.
“If we understood Afife, now let’s start to get the feeling on the stage.”
- Murathan Özbek
This is how Afife’s: “If theater exists, so do I” statement which also gave the film its name was born. This statement touched us so deeply that even when we replaced theatre with cinema, photography, or writing it was still strongly defining us. And to convey this statement to the audience in the most effective way, we aimed to look at it from an unusual perspective and bring theater and dance together. Music, light, photography, and video also provided us with separate layers while expressing our emotions.
We embarked on this journey with performance artist and choreographer Ekin Bernay, and professional dancers rehearsed for weeks with his choreography. In addition to this performance, we also wrote a story about Afife Jale, and screen designs were made to create the atmosphere.
We noticed during rehearsals that one thing that would carry both the performance and the film up was to turn this story into a song. That’s how this short dance-theatre play was staged in tune with Deniz Bayoğlu’s voice, embracing our sound and light design.
