''Callshop Istanbul'' is a 2015 documentary film by two film directors, the Moroccan-Canadian

Hind Benchekroun A hind is a female deer, especially a red deer. Places * Hind (Sasanian province, 262-484) * Hind and al-Hind, a Persian and Arabic name for the Indian subcontinent * Hind (crater), a lunar impact crater * 1897 Hind, an asteroid Military * ...

and Turkish-Kurdish-Canadian

Sami Mermer Sami Mermer is a Turkish Canadian documentary filmmaker of Kurdish descent. Biography Mermer was born in Turkey. He studied mathematics at the University of Ankara from 1994 to 1996 and from 1996 to 2000, Environment Engineering at the Universi ...

and produced by Turtle Films, depicting some intimate footage of the life of immigrants and of undocumented street vendors residing in cosmopolitan

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. Many migrants and refugees mainly from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and the

Arab World The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

found temporary refuge in Istanbul considering it as their gateway to Europe and elsewhere. To cater for a great demand of communication, telephone and internet access by refugees, a booming network of "call shops" and "internet cafés" spread all over Istanbul to provide an affordable way for these refugees from all over the world to communicate with their relatives back home or for facilitating their life in the city or to help them in their plans to immigrate elsewhere. The film portrays often one-way phone conversations by the refugees in their most intimate and vulnerable moments. The film is also a subtle witness of the complicated role of Istanbul as a transcontinental city including proliferation of would-be smugglers and traffickers promising shady and often dangerous routes for immigration to Europe with Istanbul serving as a passageway for the 21st century's largest migration crisis. The film was showcased in a number of film festivals, notably the "Canadian Spectrum" portion of the

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ont ...

. and during the "Canadian feature competition" at the

Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal The Montreal International Documentary Festival (french: Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal) is a Canadian documentary film festival, staged annually in Montreal, Quebec. In English, the festival now goes by the name Montrea ...

(RIDM) and at the

International Film Festival Rotterdam The International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) is an annual film festival held at the end of January in various locations in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Since its foundation in 1972, it has maintained a focus on independent and experimental f ...

. ''Callshop Istanbul'' is distributed in Canada and worldwide by Multi-Monde.

References

External links

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Canadian documentary films Documentary films about immigration Films shot in Istanbul Immigration to Turkey 2010s Canadian films {{2010s-Canada-documentary-film-stub