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NOT BUILT TO LAST

NOT BUILT TO LAST

DENIZ ARIKAN | PAYS-BAS / NETHERLANDS | 2026 | 20 MIN | VOA / ENGLISH

DENIZ ARIKAN | PAYS-BAS / NETHERLANDS | 2026 | 20 MIN | VOA / ENGLISH

VIRTUALShort

Synopsis

In Rotterdam, a city rebuilt from memory and shaped by modernity, local architect Daniel guides Emre, a visitor from Istanbul, through the city. As the day unfolds, their professional tour gradually reveals differences in freedom, identity and belonging between them.

Trailer

Filmmaker Bio

Deniz Arıkan is a Turkish-Dutch filmmaker based in the Netherlands. With a background in architecture, his work explores identity, belonging and memory. His debut short Not Built to Last received the Roze Filmdagen Short Film Development Grant and premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. It was later selected for the Golden Calf Competition at the Netherlands Film Festival and became a finalist in the NFF Debut Competition.

Director's Statement

Not Built to Last grew out of my move from Istanbul to Rotterdam in 2018. Migration gave me the freedom to live more openly as a queer man, but that freedom was less simple than I had imagined. Once I no longer had to hide, I began to feel the absence of what was now far away: my language, memories, cultural references and the people who had shaped me. […] Through them, the film considers whether home can exist between two cities, rather than belonging entirely to one.

Producer

Dennis Overeem

Writer

Deniz Arikan

Cast

  • Sidar Toksöz
  • Jesse Mensah
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