TAKRAR (Patterns of Istanbul)
2023 · 4m
Directed by Waref Abu Quba
Genres: animation, essay film, experimental
Tones: contemplative, sensual, tender
2,900 photographs of Istanbul become 270 animated scenes celebrating Islamic, Ottoman, Greek, and Byzantine craftsmanship in a mesmerizing journey into the past.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone's doing the photo-to-animation thing now, but Abu Quba actually resists the sentimental nostalgia trap — instead of mourning Istanbul, he lets the ornament *speak*, which is almost boring until you realize that's exactly the point.
This sits precisely in the lineage of structural essay film and Ottoman visual studies, where the constraint (2,900 photographs, 270 scenes) becomes the form itself; the rigor of the frame-by-frame animation honors both the craftsmanship *and* the medium's own patient archaeology.
The decision to let each photograph become a discrete animated moment rather than smooth them into flow — that micro-cut between each scene — makes the viewer's eye work to find continuity, which transforms what could've been a pleasant travelogue into something that demands active looking.