Political representation of displacement and escape in the neoliberal city: Körfez and Arada in Turkish independent cinema

Focusing on two independent Turkish films, Körfez (2017) and Arada (2018), this article examines how displacement and escape are politically represented in the neoliberal city. It argues that neoliberal urban transformation in Turkey generates not only physical displacement but also alienation and a drive to escape. Using qualitative narrative analysis and close readings, the study shows how both films stage the erosion of belonging in urban life. Körfez portrays a suffocating, stagnant city through an introspective protagonist; Arada tracks the chaotic nocturnal journey of a young man planning to leave the country. Despite their aesthetic differences, the two films politicise displacement and urban alienation through two distinct forms of escape: Körfez figures escape as inward withdrawal, while Arada stages it as kinetic boundary-crossing. This distinction shows how these independent films make the human costs of neoliberal urban transformation legible through contrasting forms of belonging and non-belonging.