SERIOUSLY, 2020... (online) by Ela Kir

This is a film I never intended to make, at a time I never imagined. The film documents my journey from Essex University in England (I recently graduated from the University of Essex after completing a Film Studies BA Honours Degree) to my family home in Istanbul, Turkey. On arrival I had to self-isolate in my room for two weeks. During this time, I received shocking videos from my friends around the world describing their experience of lockdown. The film documents this turbulent period of time, the conversations with my friends and my family, who were anxiously awaiting news from my cousin Emre, who was stuck in Italy at the time when Italy was one of the worst places in the world to be hit by the coronavirus. The documentary also includes an interview conducted online with a health care worker in a COVID-19 ward of a hospital in Boston, USA, who had a difficult battle with the virus herself who shares her heart-breaking experiences throughout these months.