Almost Married

When she was 20, Fatma ran away from Turkey and her authoritarian father to Italy, to gain her freedom. Her photographic work concerns the misfortune of the women in her family. She now wants to marry her Italian boyfriend Davide and returns to Turkey to face her father. While driving together through Anatolia on their way to a wedding, Fatma musters the courage to tell him about Davide. Along the way, she gets to know her father a little better: he himself was rejected by his future in-laws - he was too left-wing and his hair was too long. Fatma's commentary is a reflection on her own feelings and relationship with her family, casting light on her family's attitudes. Her cousin Pinar, for example, couldn't get a Swedish visa to join her first husband and was quickly married off to another cousin. She had no choice, but she still believes arranged marriages are best. "Love makes you blind," says Fatma's father, who contends that the family would never make a wrong decision." This offers Fatma little hope, and the tension is obvious on Davide's face when he and Fatma prepare to ask her hand in accordance with the proper, traditional custom. Will Fatma's father say yes?