Directed by Yalçın Yalın
Uprooted from their Safranbolu mountain village as small children when their families moved to the big city, today, Yayla is a space of nostalgia and longing for both İsmail Hikmet Sevim and Bahattin Akgül. In his short documentary, director Yalçın Yalın makes use of the stories – and cameras – of these two elderly gentlemen to allow the audience to experience a deep emotional connection with their mountain village, which has been ‘Abandoned by Time’. The film has been screened at numerous festivals in Turkey, including the Gordion Arkeofilm Festival and Boğazıçi Film Festival, and it received an award in 2025 from the Korea Gyeonggi International Film Festival for Sustainable Development Goals.
Born in Izmit in 1976, Yalçın Yalın lost his father at an early age, which forced him to abandon his education life and start working to provide for his family. Never abandoning his childhood dream of directing, he got a job as a cameraman for a local Izmit television, and from there went on to work at national channels, including Star TV, TRT2 and TRT Music. In addition to directing documentary biographies of well-known Turkish musicians, Yalın has produced media content for International Music Festivals and directed concerts of world-famous musicians including Goran Bregovic, George Dalaras, Natacha Atlas and Souad Massi. After deciding that “Education knows no age limits”, Yalçın returned to his university studies, graduating from the Erciyes University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema in 2024.
