Spectacle
Inessa is a linguistics researcher based in Istanbul. With her young son Levko sick in hospital back home in Ukraine, Inessa supplements her academic work by teaching Spanish to Lyubava, daughter of her Russian friend Zoya. In her spare time she plays with her cat Dazhbog, while in the evenings she spends time with her boyfriend Fonseca, attending tango nights and masturbating while he reads her his poetry. One day while shopping in a bazaar, she finds a small metal artefact engraved with a script she does not recognise. After consulting with her professor, she receives a message claiming to be a translation: to activate the artefact, she must hold it in the middle of her forehead. On doing so, she receives a hit of indescribable emotions directly into her mind — so intense that she can only hold it against her head for a few seconds. Around the same time, a woman appears on the street outside Inessa’s apartment, completely silent, not moving. Every time Inessa leaves her home, the woman is there, staring into space. As the power of the artefact grows, Inessa’s frustration towards this silent woman increases, and she becomes more and more unable to sustain the relationships and responsibilities that once kept her life intact.