Paper Lives

Mehmet (Çagatay Ulusoy) is the ailing manager of a waste collection warehouse in the slums of Istanbul in PAPER LIVES (Kagittan Hayatlar in the original Turkish version). Having grown up on the streets himself, he acts as a sort of mentor to the many street kids in the area. In turn, a father figure known as Uncle Tahsin (Turgay Tanülkü) looks after him and his best friend, Gonzales (Ersin Arici). Mehmet needs the support as his health is increasingly worsening while he awaits and saves up for an expensive kidney transplant. One day a little boy, Ali (Emir Ali Dogrul), appears at the warehouse, apparently sent away by his mom to escape his abusive stepfather. Mehmet dives into caring for the boy with a passion, jeopardizing his own health and other friendships in his obsession to do right by the boy. When it becomes clear that he cannot keep Ali, he tries to take him home to his mother, and the story takes a new twist.