Seattle Turkish Film Festival: Sevda
November 7, 2026
A real estate developer in Istanbul faces a halted deal when an old Ottoman cemetery and its elderly caretaker block her project. As her buried family past surfaces, she discovers her story is entangled with the city's history.
SIFF year-round passes and vouchers are not valid for this screening.
Tickets
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Saturday, November 7, 2026
Tülin Özen, from SIFF 2024 favorite Hesitation Wound (2023), stars as Sevda, a real estate developer in Istanbul, is about to complete the project of her career. But construction hits an obstacle: the elderly caretaker of an Ottoman cemetery refuses to leave his home among the graves. This face-off stirs up buried memories. Then a call from Elif, a Turkish immigrant in Switzerland, upsets her: the father who abandoned her is dying and asking to see her. The call reveals an unsuspected link between her family's past and the city's transformation. Sevda premiered at the Zurich Film Festival.
- Director: Ufuk Emiroğlu
- Principal Cast: Tülin Özen, Mert Fırat, Macit Koper, Ercan Kesal
- Country: Turkey
- Year: 2026
- Running Time: 100 min.
- Language: Turkish, with English subtitles
- Has Subtitles: Yes