Ederlezi - Spring Comes to the Neighborhood

Home to most of Izmir’s Roma community, the Tenekeli neighborhood has a reputation that makes it ‘off-limits’ for most of the city’s residents for 364 days of the year. But on one evening in May, thousands of people flock to Tenekeli to join in an open-air party that marks the arrival of spring. Hidirellez (Ederlezi) is an occasion when the walls between the Roma and other segments of society disappear. But will the people and the customs of the neighborhood survive the onslaught of urban renewal and gentrification? This documentary from Nesli Özalp Tuncer and Yunus Tuncer lets us join in the riotous celebrations while they last.