Biyograficim
Black and White (Siyah Beyaz)

Black and White (Siyah Beyaz)

Movie · 2010 · 8 people

Siyah Beyaz (Black and White) marks Ahmet Boyacıoğlu's first feature, a Turkish drama he wrote and directed in 2010. The film of roughly 90 minutes takes its name from the Siyah Beyaz Bar and Art Gallery in Ankara, where the story is set. Boyacıoğlu describes it as being about loneliness, growing old, friendship, solidarity and the special bond one feels for Ankara. It opened across Türkiye on April 23, 2010, and was selected for the 47th Antalya Golden Orange and 59th Mannheim-Heidelberg film festivals.

The bar's regulars are the heart of the story, and for them it is a kind of last harbor. Tuncel Kurtiz plays Ahmet Nihat, a painter who at seventy is still restless and loyal to his ideals. Erkan Can is a lawyer who left his job after a heart attack in search of calm, Nejat İşler a doctor tired of his profession and abandoned by his wife, and Şevval Sam is Ayten, a businesswoman who has made solitude a way of life. Taner Birsel plays Faruk, the bar's prickly yet soft-hearted owner, and Derya Alabora plays Nilgün.

Başak Emre, Ali Akman and Boyacıoğlu produced for Akman Film. Özgür Eken shot the film, with music by Onur Yüce and Cem Anıl.

DirectorAhmet Boyacıoğlu
Production companyAkman Film
Black and White (Siyah Beyaz) Black and White (Siyah Beyaz) Black and White (Siyah Beyaz)

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Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

People worn down by life but still loyal to their ideals, gathering in an Ankara bar: a story like this recalls the warmth of the good old films. Tuncel Kurtiz's painter, still restless at seventy, feels like the film's conscience. Taner Birsel's prickly but soft-hearted bar owner has the flavor of a true Yeşilçam character. What it says about loneliness, aging and friendship is delivered gently, without raising its voice. For those who love Ankara, the film also reads like a debt of gratitude to the city.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Siyah Beyaz takes its name from a bar and gallery regarded for more than twenty years as a symbol of Ankara's art and intellectual life, so it reads a city's memory through a single venue. The regulars, with stories that run from quitting work after a heart attack to professional burnout, abandonment and loneliness chosen as a way of life, sketch a portrait of an urban generation. For them the bar is a last harbor: they look there for the sense of belonging that family or work no longer gives. For viewers used to stories centered on Istanbul, putting Ankara at the heart of things is notable. Its themes of aging and solidarity still feel current.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

This film is built entirely on dialogue and atmosphere, so don't expect tension, chases or big events. The long conversations at the bar and the reflections on loneliness are too heavy for someone looking for pace. The cast is strong, with Tuncel Kurtiz and Nejat İşler filling the screen, but even though it is not a long film, it felt long to me.

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