Semiha B. Unplugged

A single screen shows the first Turkish opera singer Semiha Berskoy, at 87 years of age, recounting some of the most dramatic episodes of her life, including her family history, operatic career and later experiments in painting. Left behind while opera in Turkey continued to develop, Semiha lost her popularity and strove to remain on-stage by continually changing her identity, re-writing and re-inventing herself. Through the course of the 8-hour film, she re-enacts her life, often interpreted through operatic parts that she once sung.

Presented as a documentary with evidential information and interviews, viewers must make sense of the blurring between fantasy and reality. Due to its length, the film cannot be seen in its entirety, and viewers are forced to piece together Semiha B’s narrative from fragments of her story they have seen.