About Film

TranAsia train carries a wagon full of stories every week between two neighboring countries Turkey and Iran.
In the name of our acquaintance with the ones that are so close to us, our interactions, the mutual words survive in our languages…

TransAsya
Turkey / 2008 / 72’ / Turkish, Persian, English / English Subtitle

The film tells the story of the TransAsia train that operates between Istanbul and Tehran along with its historical background, passengers, voyages, the lives constructed in four-day time in its wagons.

TranAsia is different than all the other trains. Because it travels between two Eastern countries whose relationship revolve around the border line between alliance and enmity; and who both have a long-established historical heritage with their coups, change of regime, everlasting adjustments and both are, in political terms, defined as “geostrategical”, “geopolitical” and both have not been given a break by the West. One of these countries is Iran on behalf of whom thriller scenarios have being written for a while . The claim about Iran “manufacturing nuclear weapons” has kept Iran under scrutiny and threat of making use of military force, constantly. The other is the “geopolitical” one, Turkey, each problem of whom has been argued worldwide thanks to the course of joining the EU. Beside all these, the people of these two countries alienate each other despite their mutual values, mutual past and being the oldest neighbors.

The film intends to tell the minimal but original stories of TransAsia passengers along with these political sayings and atmosphere they are in. It tends to indicate the reflection of the way of the world on the TransAsia passengers and on their stories.

The objective of the film is to find out; how Turkish and Persian passengers in a compartment, on a four-day journey, construct their lives and handle it, upon which codes they act, at what they laugh, how they entertain themselves, what the common words in their languages and mutual melodies in their ears are. The aim is to ask questions on what is really going on through little details of life, away from all the manipulated things surrounding us.

Fragman

Watch the Movie

Movie Quotes
Jamshid G.
It’s very beautiful. He says, “Everyone’s face is like moon because everyone has a dark side”. Do you understand? ‘Our faces shine’ ‘Why does it shine,  because there is darkness. And we do not want to see our dark side.’
Aydın R.
– Turks do not consider going Iran much. I do not know many of my friends are curious but their families are scared and they do not let them go. Besides this, Turks do not know much about Iran. They do not know Iran’s nature. They think we live in a desert.
 ……
– The thing that annoys me most is you go to hotels and the reception says “Here again Arabs”. And I say “No they are not Arabs. They are Persians. Iranians are not Arabs but they are Persians.” They say “All is same”.And I say “OK, then you are also an Arab”.
Turan S
They do not have any knowledge. They even do not know that we are geographically neighbours. They only know that Ahmedi Nejad is the president of Republic.In Turkish there are many Persian words. We have many common words.
For instance “dost, meyman, düşman”. There are many Persian words.Tereddüt… We have many poets and philosophers. İbni Sina, Razi they are Iranian. There are quadrants of Hafız, I can read these for you. Can you pass me that bag?
Ferhad Song
Oh my school mate
We are both passengers
of the same road
Teacher’s stick on our head
You are the knot in my neck,
You are my dear
Our names were carved
to the black board.
Shrapnel filled with silence and complaint is still in our body.
Those who claim that they are wise and cultured are in fact like
couch-grass in desert.
Both good and bad
everyone’s heart had died.
Our hands should tear curtains
Who could find a cure to our
problem apart from us?
Oh my dear school mate.
 
 
Tom R.
-As you see, the woman in Europe, are they free?
-No, I don’t think so. No the people I live with. But to me, I don’t know how will it translate, but they are free to do what everybody else wants them to do. Does that make sense?
-What’s the meaning of freedom for you?
-For me?
-Yes
-For me, freedom is not being so much about freedom from the law
Mina R.
No! That is not freedom, we do not mean that. Let humans’ minds be at peace, let them choose what they want let them go to a certain limit and differentiate between good and bad.
When you oblige someone to do something, she would not accept this. In Iran when they catch a girl in an improper circumstance, they would whip her. Why would a girl 17-18 years old, my age got whipped, why would it be that way?
Iran can give a better image. Let there be a headscarf,  but also let a woman say that  she does not want black chador.
Let them not say “put on your  black chador so you seem religious”
Deniss E.
-In persian how many words exist for love?
-For love ? Three or more
Because in french there is only one and in greek there are two, maybe three.
Persia is one of the oldiest countries of the world.
Jamshid G.
Honer (art) is a Persian word. It generated from “Hüveniru” “Hüve” means good.
“Niyru” means power, namely art is good power, and so that word is completed.
Purpose, Approach

Purpose

TransAsia train which makes regular trips between the two countries have long-established historical heritage. Due to the coup d’états and change of regimes, these very countries’ ebb and floods never cease. They wander on the thin line between amity and animosity with each other, and the train which forms the focus of the film, voyages between these two eastern countries that western countries try to apprehend.
One of the two is Iran. Iran is under the constant threat of observation and use of military power due to the claim that it “produces nuclear arms”. The horror scenarios are constantly being created concerning Iran. On the other hand, Turkey is the other country defined as a “geopolitical” country. Every single issue related to Turkey is being discussed before the world. Along all these facts, are the folks of the two countries alienated to one another despite their common values, common past and long border vicinity. The film aims to relate the “minor” but essential stories of the TransAsia passengers both within this atmosphere and within the web of these political discourses. The film attaches importance to highlight the passengers’ share of the big picture of the world’s current situation.

The film also aims to display how a life is constructed as a Turkish or an Iranian: how life is rendered meaningful, what are the things that are laughed at, how fun occurs, and the common words in the tongues and common melodies. The film also deals with the issue of refugees that came from Iran to Turkey. The film focuses more on the real, minor details of life. And it asks questions as to what’s going on, rather than being stuck with manipulated agendas.

Crew
Director, Script: Bingöl Elmas
Producer: Şehbal Şenyurt
Camera: Serdar Güven, Ümit Topaloğlu
Editing:  Özgür E. Arık, Ethem Dural
Sound Editor:  Enis Küçükdoğan
Assistant of Director:  Pervin Metin, Şirin Demirel
Assistant of Producer:  Ümit Topaloğlu, Ada Ayşe İmamoğlu
Persian Translation:  Leyla Khanloaşhayeri, Ali Khanloaşhayeri, Aydin Remezani
English Translation: İdil Dündar, Neşe Akın, Songül Kalan, Ayşe Çetinbaş, Selcen Küçüküstel
Deciphering of Audio-Visuel Material: Irmak Çengel, Ebubekir Çetinkaya, Çiğdem Kesik
Poster Desing: Tolga Köksal, Kemal Taşçıoğlu
Production, World Sales: Sufilm Yapım
Appearances

JAMSHD G. / AYDN R. / TOM R. / FLORIAN / MARIE K. / ERF F. / FATMA F. / MUAFFAK G. / AHNAZ B. / MOHAMMET / MNA R. / MANSURE R. / TURAN S. / AL K. / NUMAN A. / MOHAMMET F. / ELSA Y. / DENISS E. / SARA C. / FATMA F. / MEHMET Y. /
HSEYN R.

Supporters

This Production has been Produced by The Support of Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture and Tourism

Special Thanks For The Contributions

Belgesel Sinemacılar Birliği (BSB)
Mertsa Yemek
Burla Makina Ticareti Ve Yatırım A.Ş.
Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Mithat Alam Film Merkezi
İz Tv
Kanguru Stüdyosu
T.C. Devlet Demiryolları
Tatvan Gar Müdürlüğü
Ankara Ticaret Daire Başkanlığı
Yabancılar Hudut İltica Dairesi Başkanlığı
Kayseri Sıgınmacılar Ve Göçmenler Derneği
Nazim Hikmet Kültür Merkezi

Thanks to

Jamshid Ganjineh, Aydin Remezani, Zeycan Elmas, Koray Kesik, Aziz Akal,Hayriye Savaşçioğlu, Cengiz Güven, Fazilet Karakuzu, Özge Akkoyunlu, Deniz Metin, Veli Ergül, Alev Elmas, Hatice Uysal, Eylem Sarıtaş, Orcan Sakallı, Şirin Bahar Demirel, Cemil Elmas

Bülent Arınlı, Mustafa Ünlü, Kemal Öner, Mihriban Tanık, Kemal Alptekin, Sadık Aslankara, Hilmi Etikan, Ümit Kivanç, Burak Dal, Sezgin Türk, Peri Johnson, Elvan Kığılcım, Burhan Gün, Elif Ergezen, Yasin Ali Türkeri, Mustafa Temiztaş, Pelin Albayrakoğlu, Özgür Candan,

Ahmet Sargın, Murat Toy, Faysal Soysal, Burak Şenbak , Sedat Yilmaz, Faik Bulut, Buğra Varol, Ali İlhan, Nefise Ozkal Loretzen, Can Candan, Dilhun Ekmekçi

Muaffak Gülboy, Meryem Remezani,Halaç Aygün, Kadri Yapıcıoğlu, Servet Mungan, Hidir Polat, Şerafettin Doğan, Erol Kodalak, Yusuf Öztürk, Savaş Ünal, Fatma Demir, Ruşen Gülen, Sinan Ağkaya, Sebahattin Yildiz, Kaya Denktaş, Mevlüt Yilmaz, Özgür Esen, Yasemin Çivelekoğlu, Gülbahar Altinkiliç, Şehram Güneş, Turgay Şafak

And My Family

Festivals
7th International Filmmor Women’s Film Festival on Wheel
9 March – 12 April 2009
20th Ankara Film Festival National Documentary Competition
12-22 March 2009
13th Boston Turkish Festival Documentary & Short Film Competition
2-7 December 2008
11th International 1001 Documentary Film Festival
13-19 November 2008
FIDADOC SOUSS International Documentary Film Festival in Agadir
4-8 November 2008
45th International Golden Orange Film Festival National Documentary Competition
10-19 October 2008
15th International Altın Koza Film Festival
2-5 June 2008