This is Sari, The Swindler.
"No cats, Istanbul would lose its soul." says the voiceover of one of the human protagonists of the documentary _Kedi (Istanbul Cats) _ (premiere this Friday, July 21). “In Istanbul the cat is more than a cat. The cat represents the indecipherable chaos, culture, and essential uniqueness of Istanbul."
The cats they are illustrious citizens of Istanbul because they have been in it for centuries. They were there long before it went from being an average city, with four million inhabitants, to the mega-city of 20 million that it is today. And this is how the director of Kedi remembers it, Ceyda Torun that she was born and raised there in the eighties in Istanbul until she left when she was 11 years old. And decades later, what she still remembers are those stray cats that kept her company as a child.
This is Gamsiz, who owns the street from him.
If you have ever visited Istanbul, you would agree with her, and you would realize the number of cats that walk through her streets, and tranquility and confidence with what they do. If you haven't visited Istanbul yet, you should, and when you do, be sure to pay attention to its more native neighbors who can become the kings of a cafe, the queens of a store or the empresses of a bazaar.
Ceyda Torun and her cinematographer Charlie Wuppermann spent two months following cats around the city. They filmed them with cameras that were placed at their height, to discover another city, the one that can be seen from the feet of humans. They were recorded with drones to see their walks along cornices and its naps in awnings. They followed them through holes that go unnoticed to our eyes and followed them through the nights when many become mouse and rat catchers (this Tom and Jerry moment from the movie). And from all the material they got, they decided to follow seven kittens, with very different personalities and great stories that say a lot about the city.
Siestas in awnings, always.
Are Sari (The Scammer), Bengu (The Affectionate), Aslan Parçası (The hunter) , psychopath (The Psychopath), Deniz (The Sociable), Gamsız (The Playful) and Duman (The Elegant). Each one lives in a neighborhood according to their personality.
Dunam, for example, lives in Nisantasi , the most elegant neighborhood in Istanbul, he walks like a gentleman there and has fallen in love with a cafe restaurant where he is very pampered. He never enters the premises, he climbs on a bench and starts tapping on the window, so they know he is hungry. And he's not hungry for anything, from prime turkey and Manchego cheese.
Sarı lives at the foot of the Galata Tower and he only goes out in search of food for her and her young, to get it he does whatever it takes. She though she has already won over a store clerk who takes care of her what she can. psychopath She is a jealous cat of her neighborhood, Samatya, an old area of Istanbul, she defends her own and even keeps her husband's cat at bay.
"This is my street," Psikopat tells him.
For the citizens of Istanbul cats they are intelligent beings, more than dogs and almost more than men. According to them, they even know of the existence of God, and that humans are his intermediaries, while for dogs, men are their gods. "They are not ungrateful," says one of the men in the documentary. "They just know more."
That's why They prefer to set them free when you bring them into the house, they lose their cat nature, they believe. Although cats, so clever, look for their masters for hours, those people who know that they will pamper them when they get close and will give them food when they purr.
Sari's kittens.
Now that the city continues to grow and gentrify, like the rest of the world's capitals, its inhabitants are wondering what will happen to your cats. Well, Istanbul would lose its soul, its eternal citizens. And without them the streets of the bustling city seem empty.
Gatetes and Istanbul: a traveler's dream.