Siyah Sefid (Black & White)

Raised in Berlin, Behnam - an Iranian man in his late twenties - makes a trip to Istanbul as a tourist. With a passion for black & white photography, he roams the city streets, capturing images of people and places. He shoots only analog, claiming that developing photos in the darkroom is one with discovering the past. Analog images from his childhood in Iran create a picture of the past in the present, like a time capsule. Raised in Tehran, Eli - an Iranian woman of nearly the same age - stays in Istanbul with relatives. An art student, she plans to study in Berlin, passing time in Istanbul to get a taste of life outside of Iran. She lives firmly in the present, recognizing the reality of her country and that of the west and lacking sentimentality for either. (excerpt)