SINEMASKOPE FILMS is a development and production company producing independent cinema beyond borders.

January 2025 Update: From Feb 12-20, we will be attending Berlinale Film Festival and the European Film Market (EFM) this year. For meeting enquiries please email: info@sinemaskopefilms.com

Mert Berdilek - Founder

“Our mission statement was to make films from the ground up. Which meant authenticity. I was in a precarious but unique position, a second generation migrant living in diaspora with stories to tell, but no avenue to tell it. Due to the barriers of entry that existed for me as a minority in the film industry, led to the conception of Sinemaskope Films. Our founding principle is focusing on international co-productions, specifically working beyond borders on culturally and linguistically diverse cinema.”

PRODUCING AUTHENTIC STORIES. FROM DIVERSE VOICES.

PROJECTS

  • THE FALL

    Drama • Short • Completed

    A young Syrian refugee mother & an Islamic cleric discuss the implications and arrangements for a funeral regarding her husbands suicide. This chamber drama navigates through complex theological, cultural and historical questions around war, trauma, displacement & mental health.

    ✹ SYDNEY INT. FILM FESTIVAL ✹

    Watch on Argo

  • KUDUZ • RABID

    Drama • Short • In Festival Circuit

    When a young boy in a traditional Turkish village releases the family’s dog after discovering it has rabies, his progressive ideals clash with his father’s rigid beliefs, sparking a series of events that reveal the high cost of change and the painful rift between tradition and modernity.

    This project has completed post-production in January 2025.

    KUDUZ is a prequel to the feature film THE REMAINS.

    Private screener available on request.

  • GERIDE KALANLAR • THE REMAINS

    Drama • Feature • Financing

    Ömer is summoned to the Eastern Turkish village of his childhood to bury a man he never suspected to be his father. Trapped in a snow blizzard with no way to escape, Ömer is confronted with an emotional odyssey that will forever shape his fate.

    ✧ TURKISH MINISTRY OF CULTURE PRODUCTION FUNDING

    ✧ TRT 12 PUNTO DEVELOPMENT FUNDING

    ✧ VICSCREEN ORIGINATE DEVELOPMENT FUNDING

    For more details click here

  • QUIET RIVERS RUN DEEP

    Thriller • Miniseries • Development

    When nineteen refugees are found frozen dead near the Turkish-Greek border, veteran officer Selim and rookie officer Aslı uncover a web of human trafficking and military pushbacks. As they get closer to the truth, they must choose between justice and survival.

    The project is being developed as both a feature film and miniseries.

  • KIN

    Docuseries • Development

    An 8-part cinematic docuseries exploring the sacred bond between indigenous cultures and the animals that define their existence. From the Kazakh eagle hunters of Mongolia to the Aboriginal elders of Australia and their kinship with the kangaroo, from the Turkish pigeon keepers of Şanlıurfa to the Sami reindeer herders of Scandinavia, each episode follows one person and their lifelong connection with a creature—where man and beast are not separate, but one.

  • BURNING SECRET

    Drama • Feature • Development

    At a secluded resort in a Turkish seaside town of Assos, 12-year-old Emir forms a fast friendship with Kerem, a charismatic yet world-weary man who showers him with attention and excitement. But when Emir realizes that Kerem’s true focus is his withdrawn mother, Aslı, an unspoken battle begins—one of desire, jealousy, and betrayal. As Aslı is drawn into a fragile romance with Kerem, Emir's admiration curdles into suspicion, forcing him to confront a truth he is too young to understand. In a single fateful moment, childhood innocence shatters, leaving behind a secret that will haunt them all.

  • THE INTERMISSION

    War/Drama • Feature • Development

    During a single day in the Gallipoli campaign, a Turkish conscript and an Australian soldier briefly cross paths within a burial truce. As war resumes, their fleeting compassion is overshadowed by the relentless cycle of violence, with their lone donkey companion the last bastion of innocence amid the carnage.

  • THE FALL • LONG-FORM

    Drama • Miniseries • Development

    After fleeing war-torn Syria, Yasmine, a young refugee mother, finds herself in an impossible predicament when her husband dies by suicide. Over six episodes, The Fall unfolds as Yasmine and her young daughter navigate the harrowing realities of refugee life in a Western country—bureaucratic limbo, systemic alienation, cultural dissonance, and the quiet resilience needed to forge a new identity in an unfamiliar world. A deeply human portrait of loss, resilience, and the invisible trials of starting over, The Fall examines the intimate and political forces shaping the refugee experience in a world that often turns a blind eye.

OUR FILMS HAVE BEEN SUPPORTED BY THE FOLLOWING PARTNERS

TESTIMONIALS ON OUR FILMS

“Inducing moments of breathless anxiety”

— S T A R G A Z E T T E

“Brilliant film, raises some serious philosophical questions in a compelling way.”

— R O B E R T H E S S

“A seriously stylish film, that doesn't offer answers but ponders a number of big questions.”

— T H E R E E L B I T S

“Its classical form gestures towards something far more modern within its thematic lining, which never reduces its complex situation to over-simplified platitudes.”

— F I L M I N Q U I R Y

“So beautifully shot and crafted. You can sense a history and future for them both. Watching this made me want to make films again.”

— P A T R I C K G A L V I N

“A great film. It’s a slow-burn but the conflict is big”

— M U S T A F A K A Y M A K (2019 Sundance Winner)

2024

HIGHLIGHT

Sinemaskope Films launches it’s first exhibition Tersine Göç • Reverse Migration

After traversing 8000km+ on road across Türkiye, a project was born by photographer Mert Berdilek, on how the country has changed, or hasn't since its formation 100 years ago. Shot solely on medium-format film, Tersine Göç ('Reverse Migration' in Turkish) is a journey into the heart of a country and its people. Where the lines of past and present are blurred. Where in some of the most remote locations, that elusive purity in humanity we're searching for as artists, is found, even if it were for just a fleeting moment.

SPONSORED BY

Feature

It was twilight, I was driving down a remote road from Doğubeyazıt to Iğdır. Next to me, the snow-capped Ağrı Dağ / Mount Ararat. It is said that the mountain is the final resting place of Noah’s Ark, and the rebirth point of civilisation. At the foot of the mountain, a lone shepherd and his donkey, accompanied by hundreds if not thousands of sheep caught my eye. So I stopped on the side of the road and began walking to this speck of a figure. He was surprised to see me, he told me I was the first person he had seen in a few days. “How old are you?” “Eighteen, abi” – this took me by surprise. There was something about the donkey, especially its eyes, that emotionally reminded me of Robert Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar. “What’s his name?” there was a pause. “He doesn’t have a name.” I looked at the donkey again, noticing dried tears on the fur surrounding the eyes. “How old is he?” “He’s 9 years old” “You’ve been together for 9 years?” “Yes” “But he doesn’t have a name?” he shook his head. There was a long pause, I finally asked “Is he your friend?”. He took a moment to reply. When he finally did, his voice dropped, and he muttered almost under his breath “He’s my only friend”. Those words cut right through me. “Shouldn’t he have a name then?” “Yes.. he should” “Let’s name him then”. After some back and forth of who should name him, he insisted for me to name his donkey. My mind immediately went to my childhood pet dog, who we had lost and I still think about. When leaving, I heard him calling his only friend, by his new name while riding together toward the distant sheep. I had unshed tears in my eyes not knowing why I felt the way I did, but I was moved in a way I couldn’t really explain. I recounted this story to a close friend, in which he said “You know, your interaction probably changed his life”. I never thought of that, I don’t know if it changed his life but I know it definitely changed mine. It crystallised to me, why we do what we do, with our cameras or our pens, seeking art out there in the real world.

Read more on the creative process in the interview here