Leylak

Greetings again from the darkness. We open on a team of masked gravediggers. Row after row of holes are being dug in the rocky terrain. A casket is lowered with no family or clergy present. Yusuf (Nadir Saribacak), one of the gravediggers, says a brief prayer over the casket prior to taking a phone call. The pandemic is at its peak in NYC.

Co-directors Scott Aharoni and Dennis Latos previously collaborated on other short films, and here they are working from a script by Mustafa Kaymak. Soon it's clear that Yusuf lives in Queens, New York and he's rushing home to take his eleven year-old daughter, Renk (Isabella Haddock), to the hospital to see her mother ... who we infer is COVID-stricken. We don't sense something amiss until Yusuf remains quiet when the taxi driver asks, "Sir, where are you going?"

The 15 plus months of pandemic have put so many people in situations for which they weren't prepared ... and couldn't be expected to be prepared. This 16 minute short film has no wide shots. Every moment is intimate and personal, and the final shot of Yusuf, Renk, and the lilacs is at once both heart-breaking and heart-warming.

LEYLAK will screen at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

The story is very powerful and you care for this people. Such sad times yet there's a light at the end of the tunnel, giving sadness and hope. I wish to see this movie wins Oscar 2022.. I just felt very powerful, very sad feelings in the story of Leylak. I wish to see this short film come to a movie, after all this happens because of covid. Congrats to everyone who worked for this great short film.

A story about truth . Or about parenthood. Or about acceptance, loneliness, in its deep form, death and radical change. The minimalistic story, the fair performances, the dialogue and the dark image are pieces of a story who you live, feel, more than know or imagine it. A film , in essence, about compassion. Simple and fair, about a Turkish immigrant in NYC, his daughter and the chain of graves reflected by the lilacs. A beautiful film , a profound honest work.