Taşkafa, Stories of the Street

A warm, meandering documentary that feels like listening to street stories, blending affection for dogs with quiet anger at displacement.

Directed by

Andrea Luka Zimmerman

Genres

Documentary

Starring

John Berger

Overview

Taşkafa is a real dog and also a legend on the streets of Istanbul. John Berger begins Taşkafa’s story, reading from his novel, King, the story of the disappearance of a community told from a dog’s perspective. The area’s ordinary people – taxi drivers, shopkeepers, street traders – care deeply about the welfare of the city’s street dogs and they tell us stories about Taşkafa and their other canine neighbours. The animals are a symbol of community living, where people (and dogs) look out for each other, but this is a community in transition; one from which dogs are starting to be expelled. Eccentric, amusing and very warm, the film is a powerful indictment of the impact of global politics and the economic appropriation of public space but, even more, it is a tribute to both the spirit of resistance and to city life that can accommodate people and dogs together.

How it feels

Warm, melancholic, earnest and satirical. Measured and needs your attention.

About

Family, isolation, class, power

Content

Mild language. No violence, gore or sexual content.

Note

Written by AI, so it can be wrong. Full breakdown

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