Zeynep Dilan Süren

It Will Hurt A Bit

Two women, similar but at the same time different. Their encounter is only possible in other chairs, as manicurist and customer. A tragedy that does not belong to either of them draws them together.

SYNOPSIS

SEMRA (27) and HICRET (25) are two hijabi women living in Istanbul with their families. Aside from this, they have almost nothing in common. Hicret comes from an upper-middle-class family, graduated with a first-class honour from one of the best universities in the country and is about to go to Germany for a Master's. Nevertheless, she has been so depressed lately that she stopped leaving the house and started to slit her wrists with a razor. Semra took a job at the hair salon as a manicurist when she graduated from high school. She complains about living with her parents, but her father made it clear that she cannot leave unless she is married. As a last resort, she proposed to her boyfriend but was rejected. Women of Hicret’s family frequent the hairdresser that Semra works. They dragged Hicret, who stopped going to hair salons long ago. When Hicret accidentally learns that the other manicurist BÜŞRA (22), needs money for an abortion, three women embark on a journey in Istanbul.

DIRECTOR
Zeynep Dilan Süren

WRITERS
Zeynep Dilan Süren
Elif Danyal

PRODUCERS
Kübra Balcan
Rana Ekin

PRODUCTION COMPANY
Pembe Film

COUNTRY
Turkey

Zeynep Dilan Süren

ZEYNEP DILAN SÜREN (1994) was born in Turkey. She made short films during her high school years, won many awards with them and took part in the cinema club of the school. She is a graduate of Bahçeşehir University, Department of Film and Television. She completed Kadir Has University Film and Drama master’s degree. Her film THE GREAT ISTANBUL DEPRESSION (2020) won the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Student Film at Sarajevo Film Festival.


When a woman cannot leave her home, family, or relation, although she has the financial capability, does that mean she is powerless? What may be the reasons that this woman cannot leave home? How much does our responsibility for our family and the guilt developing from that affect our actions? Is there an end to having a life compatible with society’s requests for women? I think it is not always easy for a woman to notice and see the oppression of community and family, which is sometimes extremely invisible, and the destruction that the pressure causes. The change can sometimes start with noticing this internalised oppression. Of course, this oppression is not the same for all women. This film mostly discusses this difference. A woman who every day hears from her father, You cannot leave home without getting married, and a woman, who cannot leave home without getting married because she does not want to disappoint her father even though he does not say it, are not the same. Some stay at home due to financial incapability and violence, and some remain home due to wanting to make their families content. Do individuals of the women's community have a common suffering even though they live under different circumstances? Is there any common oppression medium over them? IT WILL HURT A BIT is the story of HICRET and SEMRA’s notice of this oppression through their journey to solve the problem of BÜŞRA. This one-day journey of three women on the streets and avenues of Istanbul brings them closer and inspires them in each other's journeys. They realise that they sometimes react similarly and sometimes differently to different aspects of oppression arising from the same source, and even though they come from very different social and economic classes, they even have the same fantasies.


DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

Kübra Balcan

KÜBRA BALCAN (1992) is an actress and producer. After her education at Istanbul University State Conservatory Musical Department, she graduated from Kadir Has University Theatre Department in 2017, which she entered with a full scholarship. Since 2011, as an actress, she has taken part in TV series broadcast on national channels. In 2013, with the travelling theatre she founded with her friends, she performed traditional Turkish theatre middle plays in many villages of Turkey and conducted creative drama workshops with children. From 2015 to 2019, she continued her children's workshops in refugee camps and cooperation with many associations. Since 2018, she has worked in private theatres on the production and acting side. IT WILL HURT A BIT is the first feature film she produced. She also has a short film in production with the director.

Production company profile

PEMBE FILM is an Istanbul-based production company founded by Kübra Balcan and Zeynep Dilan Süren, developing and producing films and series.

Where are we at?

TOTAL ESTIMATED BUDGET
306.904 EUR

Production timeline

SUMMER 2025
Production

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