As a Turkish/French duo, after two features in Pakistan and Japan, we had to focus on Turkey, at a crucial moment in its history.
With the current political change in the background, we chose to portray a woman who must fight in order not to drown. Bahar belongs to a social class scarcely represented in Turkish Cinema, the “White Turks”, born to the 68ers, mostly over-educated, apolitical, atheist, rich, but lost and frustrated.
Our film is a quest for identity, a journey to redemption. It is a characterdriven story that breaks all ties in order to act freely: Bahar must find her own way to be a woman. Indeed in Turkey, women, targeted by a schizophrenic society, lose their balance: they should be strong and independent, but still bow to expanding conservatism and deny their femininity.
But in Istanbul, we have met Dilek, a transsexual who turned out to be a very balanced and self-confident individual. This is why we want Bahar to get to know her: from the relationship they will build with each other, we would like to bring to light the struggle people must go through in Turkey to define their identities. And we hope that The Princess Spring’s audience will join their quest, whatever their gender or country is.