Self-employed

Andreas Piké had a company in Istanbul for 20 years. He speaks four languages, including fluent Turkish. The company is now bankrupt, and his daughter, who was raised in Turkey, follows him with a camera while he tries to keep his head above water. He puts on an air of calm and manages to communicate with his creditors pretty well, but his daughter Esra delivers a retrained, witty portrait of just how thin her father's veil of cool is. The creditors are numerous, and Andreas's sense of responsibility to them is considerable. He wants to do the right thing, but everything backfires nonetheless. It's not about rebuilding after the bankruptcy, but rather Andreas's personal anguish, which the daughter and the viewer also feel. It can't be a coincidence that during all these goings-on, Istanbul is cloaked in fog, largely deprived of color, and hardly any daylight penetrates the offices. Being self-employed is a lonely business.