The one-month workshop in Adana was hosted by the cultural association Özgür Sinematek and involved 25 Turkish students from the Faculty of Media and Communication at Çukurova University. It aimed to promote dialogue between Turkish and Syrian students on campus and Syrian displaced people living in Adana since 2014, usually separated due to existing language barriers. The workshop sessions highlighted the economic and cultural challenges of integrating Syrian communities in Turkey due to everyday bordering and racism. The four resulting films, three short documentaries, and one fiction, capture these experiences, as well as the consequences of the Earthquake of 6 February 2023 and the loss of memories for displaced Syrian families due to the war. The shorts will be finished in 2024. 

Twenty-five film and communication students aged 20–32 participated, representing diverse national, ethno-religious, and socio-economic backgrounds. The workshop aimed to enhance their filmmaking skills and media literacy through a multi-stage participatory filmmaking (PF) process, including film analysis, scriptwriting, production, editing, and a public screening that also served as a focus group. The workshop concluded with a screening and a focus group discussion involving twelve Syrian students from the Çukurova Academy. The students provided valuable and insightful feedback on the films.


The workshop resulted in four short films:

The film students

The filmmakers are students from the departments of Film, TV & Radio and Communication at the Çukurova University. This is their first participatory filmmaking experience.

Aleyna

Gülin

Gülsüm

Sena

Sone

Zöhre

My name is Zöhre Ergünöz, I’m 23 years old and I’m from Turkey. I recently graduated from Çukurova University, where I studied Radio, Television and Cinema.

I’m passionate about visual storytelling and I believe that documentary films can reveal deep human truths and create emotional connection.

Sally Hllouby

Syrian Filmmaker, researcher, and a MA Cinema studies student at Anadolu University.  Interested in visual art and storytelling, archival research, and filmmaking.

Cemile

My name is Cemile Öz. I’m 22 years old and I study Radio, Television and Cinema at Çukurova University. For me, films are not just fiction; they are a way to understand the world, feel, and connect. I'm interested in every kind of film that allows me to express myself and reflect the world around me. Whether it's fiction or documentary, I truly enjoy exploring different ways of storytelling.

Hira

Manar

My name is Manar Malki, I am 23 years old. I am from Algeria and I study radio television and cinema in communication department at Çukurova University. I am interested in film documentary and filmmaking in general. I Absolutely believe that Filmmaking is a strong tool to deliver any message you want in different ways. I can see its importance in today’s and future’s world.

Polen

Hande

Sıla

My name is Sıla Coşkun. I am 22 years old and I study at the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Çukurova University. For me, cinema is not a window, but a crack. It is a space where light leaks, sound echoes and reality bends and twists. Sometimes I find myself in dialogue, and sometimes I find someone else in silence. I am still at the very beginning of my journey, but when I pick up a camera or edit something, I feel as though time stops. During this process, the rules are stretched: who am I? What am I saying? Everything is questioned again.

Zeynep Sena               

Yiğitjan

Furkan Mehmet Akca

I’m 26 years old and currently a senior student in Radio, Television and Cinema at Çukurova University. My main focus is filmmaking. What draws me to this form is its honesty—it allows us to reshape reality. Through films, we can transform the ordinary into something meaningful. For me, filmmaking is a way to explore, to question, and to better understand both myself and the society I live in.