Aslı Wants the Lead Role
October 2026 - May 2027
İSTANBUL, KIRKLARELİ
Aslı Wants the Lead Role is a short film project about Aslı, an actress who has recently given birth and is trying to return to her profession. After spending several months caring for her baby, Aslı wants to audition for a play she has long been eager to perform in. However, she first needs to find someone who can look after her baby throughout the day. As she navigates this search, Aslı struggles to balance her responsibilities as a mother with her desire to reclaim space for her personal ambitions and professional life. The challenges she encounters bring her face to face with the tension between her own aspirations and the social expectations imposed on women through motherhood.
Drawing on Aslı's everyday experiences, the film explores the tension between motherhood and individual identity. It focuses on a woman's desire to pursue her professional ambitions after becoming a mother and the challenges this desire faces in the face of prevailing social norms. Through Aslı's story, the film questions how motherhood shapes women's individual identities and their place in the workforce. At the same time, it brings theatre and cinema together, exploring the world of the performing arts through the narrative possibilities of filmmaking.
Deniz Büyükkırlı
Deniz Büyükkırlı graduated from the Department of Cinema and Television at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dokuz Eylül University.
Between 2012 and 2022, she worked as a screenwriter on numerous television and digital platform series distributed nationally and internationally.
Her short film Tavuk Suyuna Çorba (2024), which she wrote and directed, was selected for the official programme of the 61st Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. The film was also screened at the Leiden International Film Festival (LIFF), Scanorama European Film Festival and Queens World Film Festival. It received the Best Short Film Award at the 25th Phoenix Film Festival, the Audience Award at the 30th Aichi International Women's Film Festival and an Honourable Mention at the 43rd New Jersey Film Festival.