Original Film Title: Sulukule: Gentrification Eliminated Community
Director’s Name: Melis Isil Simsek
Country of Origin: United States
Country of Filming: Turkey
Language: Turkish
Runtime: 31 minutes 49 seconds
Film Description:
Sulukule was a historic district in the heart of Istanbul, where the Turkish Romani gypsy community lived for centuries. Planned gentrification happened through political land grabbing and using the communities’ unique lifestyle to spur support of its demise. Today the members of this Turkish Romani community are all over Istanbul, and a very unique Istanbulian subculture has disappeared. Could this community have been saved by a socially sensitive architectural initiative? Could the organic lifestyle of people occupying this land have been protected as well transformed by an architectural solution?
