Writing, memory and architecture flow together in this sensual nocturnal wandering through the streets of Istanbul, which becomes a vibrant archive of life lived. 

Acclaimed documentary film maker Grant Gee (Joy Division, Meeting People is Easy, Patience (After Sebald)) takes his cue from Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's 2008 novel The Museum of Innocence.

In Pamuk's vision, a museum is opened in Istanbul, a museum that's a fiction: its objects trace a tale of doomed love in the 1970s city between Kemal, heir to a wealthy fortune, and Fusun, a beautiful shop girl with whom he has a romantic affair days before his engagement to someone else. When Fusun disappears, Kemal is unable to forget her and takes solace in everything she ever touched, from toothbrushes to cologne - items that go on display at The Museum of Innocence.

In this feature length documentary essay, fact and fiction are artfully interwoven in a tripartite narrative whose main characters are the city of Istanbul, the Museum of Innocence, and Orhan Pamuk himself, whose life and work have been indelibly influenced by the city he roams. The reciprocity of all these relationships – novel and museum, writer and city, reality and fiction – is explored through a unique interleaving of narrative voiceover, interviews, music, animation, fictional sequences and archive.

We are taken on a cinematic, atmospheric, and noir-esque journey through the deserted streets of Istanbul at night, drifting along the waterways of Bosphorous and – central to this stunning and original film – we are guided through the vitrines of the Museum of Innocence.

★★★★ Guardian

"With this essay/documentary hybrid form, Gee has struck gold" ★★★★ Little White Lies

" a beguiling, meditative study of the indelible link between memory and identity, and the transformative power of love" ★★★★ Film List

"A slow-paced yet mesmerising documentary" ★★★★ Cine Vue