The Intersection of Scientific Rationality and Intuitive Truth: Burak Çevik at the 76th Berlinale Forum Expanded
One of the most consistent and innovative voices of Turkish cinema on the international festival circuit, Burak Çevik, continues his cinematic journey with historic success at the 76th Berlin Film Festival. Having previously secured his place in the festival’s main selections with works such as Tuzdan Kaide, Aidiyet, and Unutma Biçimleri—and thereby forging a distinctive narrative language—Çevik now solidifies his international standing with his fourth selection in the Berlinale programme. His new short film, The Weary Hours of Two Lab Assistants (İki Laborantın Yorgun Saatleri), will have its world premiere in the experimental Forum Expanded section, where he once again transports his ontological inquiries between the rational world and metaphysical intuition—this time into the claustrophobic yet profoundly open atmosphere of a laboratory.
The narrative universe of the film is built around the mechanical routines of two laboratory workers examining an unknown substance in the heavy silence of midnight. Brought to life by the performances of Nalan Kuruçim, Bahar Çevik, and Didar Püren Erbek, this microscopic drama presents the rigid rules of science and the mechanical sounds of the laboratory as the characters’ sole guides. Yet the story undergoes a radical tonal shift at the critical threshold where fatigue clouds the mind: the brewing of a cup of Turkish coffee. In this sequence—where scientific data and rational procedures give way to intuitive readings drawn from the coffee grounds—the age-old cinematic theme of “the pursuit of truth” is approached from an entirely fresh perspective. This boundary line where rationality and intuition intertwine invites the viewer to reflect on the tension between the rigid reality of the modern world and the intuitive depths of the human soul.
From a technical standpoint, The Weary Hours of Two Lab Assistants promises cinephiles a true aesthetic feast. Shot on 16mm film to preserve the unique texture and colour depth of analog cinema, the cinematography is handled by the award-winning Gregory Oke, who gained worldwide acclaim for Aftersun. Complementing the visual atmosphere is the electroacoustic work of Zeynep Toraman, whose sound design powerfully bridges the mechanical routine and the mystical transformation. In addition to directing, Burak Çevik’s prolific producer identity under Fol Films unites this project as a co-production between Türkiye, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Croatia—resulting in a truly multinational artistic collective.
The Forum Expanded section of the Berlin Film Festival—whose philosophy defines cinema not as a mere commercial commodity but as a “laboratory” for cultural and political questions—achieves a perfect harmony with Burak Çevik’s experimental approach to filmmaking. Throughout his career, Çevik’s video works and feature-length narratives—accepted at prestigious venues such as MoMA, Lincoln Center, and Locarno—have shifted cinema away from static storytelling toward forms that inhabit museum archives and public discursive spaces. The Weary Hours of Two Lab Assistants, one of the most anticipated works at the festival running from 12–22 February 2026, is poised to once again bring to the fore that ancient question: Does truth emerge from rational formulas, or from moments of intuition?
