44 minutes that explain why Turkey still flinches at knocks on the door.
Turkish democracy got over the 27th of May and the 12th of March and set off again, but the storm did not subside and the mutual reckoning was not over. On the contrary, new fronts were opened in the country and blood began to flow like a gutter. Finally, on September 12, there was a knock on the door again. Those who came that day changed everything, everything. Nothing would ever be the same again, nothing would be the same as before.
Direction
Ünlü lets silence and static footage do the screaming.
Editing
Juxtaposition of everyday 1980 footage with military broadcasts chills.
Acting
Birand's narration—famous journalist who lived it—carries unbearable weight.
Director
Mustafa Ünlü
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
September 12, 1980 remains the most traumatic date in Republican Turkish history—this film was made while many perpetrators still held power, making its existence itself an act of resistance.
Mehmet Ali Birand later admitted he initially supported the coup as a journalist; his narration here carries that unspoken guilt, lending the documentary its devastating moral complexity.
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