Aniden / Suddenly

Reyhan and her husband are briefly visiting her home city of Istanbul, which she left at a young age. She now lives in Hamburg. But triggered by the sudden loss of her sense of smell, Reyhan undergoes an inner change. Acting on instinct, she seeks out the places of her past, visits the old fishing village where she once lived and, unnoticed by the family, secretly enters her late grandmother's flat. Reyhan leaves her old life behind and takes a job in a charmingly scruffy hotel. She meets a blind man in the neighbourhood to whom she feels a vague connection, as he too lacks sensory perception. She realises that, though her past life won't let her go, neither will the present. Drifting in the current of the big city, she traces the sensuous qualities of the world in few words. With her second feature film, photographer/filmmaker Melisa Önel has created a portrait of a self-confident woman who must get to know and learn about herself and her life all over again.