Turkish filmmaker Can Evrenol (the mastermind behind 2015’s deliciously grotesque Baskin) is back with brutal revenge saga Sayara, and we’ve got a kickass poster for you exclusively today.
Starring Duygu Kocabiyik, Emre Kizilirmak and Özgül Kosar, Sayara made its debut at Cannes earlier this year. The bloody and brutal plot reads as follows:
Sayara works as a cleaning lady in one of Istanbul’s gyms. The revenge plot kicks in when her older sister, Yonca, is raped and killed by Barış – the spoiled owner of the gym, with whom Yonca has an illicit affair – and his three friends. Barış’ father is a member of Parliament who pulls strings, so her death is ruled a suicide in court. But Sayara’s father is Shamil Hskaov, Turkmenistan’s former special operations commander and a Soviet Sambo champion, who has trained Sayara for close combat using this martial art. She vows to carry out her own justice.
Sayara, which can apparently be watched as both a four-episode miniseries and a dark 90-minute horror thriller, is produced by Istanbul-based producers Inter Yapım, while international distribution of the film will be handled by Inter Medya.
In a director’s statement via Variety (who also debuted a cool new teaser), Evrenol talks about the blend of genres in the film:
“Horror cinema is the epitome of protest art, but only when it’s anti-status quo. I made ‘Sayara’ with the intention of delivering a bold scream — a low-budget shocker of transgression and excess — in the midst of a cultural landscape increasingly suffocated by both official and self-censorship […] The film is a unique, weird crossbreed: half grappling-based martial arts flick, half obsessive toxic relationship movie from hell. I strive to make my films as personal as possible.”
He also talks about the terrifying real-life inspiration behind Sayara, and its social and political context:
“Creating a martial arts-based revenge film has been a lifelong dream of mine. I found the right motivation for this script through the real-life wave of unending femicides in Turkey. I aimed to make a brutal little genre film where I could reflect on the countless unsolved crimes that plague our collective consciousness as a nation, both socially and politically,”
Evrenol also tells us that the martial arts in Sayara go hard (we don’t doubt him), and that there’s an intense focus on jiu-jitsu and Soviet combat sport sombo.
Sayara‘s kickass new poster, from artist @halilkarasu teases some gloriously gnarly deaths and graphic gore – and if you’ve seen Baskin, you’ll know that Evrenol doesn’t hold back.
Sayara makes its theatrical premiere in Turkey later this week, and is making the rounds at a number of different festivals this year. Keep your eyes peeled for where you can catch it.
