Hi! I’m Tanya Chekhova, a Berlin-based documentary film director and welcome you here with my producer partners Denis and Julia.

Despite all the struggle and emotional cost that filmmaking often brings into my life, I continue to do what I love and what I deeply believe in. Producers Julia Meyer-Pavlovic and Denis Pavlovic, from Glass Frog Films Hamburg, are here to support me on this way.

Let us introduce you to our project - THE FACADE

TANYA says HI:

DENIS says WHY:

Together with Glass Frog Films , we launched this fundraiser to complete a feature documentary I began in Istanbul in 2022. The film is a reflection on escapism and the fragile imaginary worlds we build to protect ourselves - all set in today’s Istanbul, in the heart of Turkey.

A kaleidoscopic journey through six different lives, from all over the world and from the heart of the city, merging into a collective story about life in Istanbul, trapped inside a time capsule that slowly begins to crack open, revealing the path toward a new world, at least in their minds.

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In many ways, The Facade became my own illusion too, or rather, the process of making it did. What I once imagined as a creative journey turned into a long and often difficult confrontation with myself and the realities of a highly competitive industry.

But despite all that, we came so far today.

THE FACADE (DE, TUR, 80 Min.)

In central İstanbul stands the iconic Dogan Apartment, a striking building that houses a diverse group of residents, each with distinct backgrounds, values, and reasons for retreating from the outside world. As Turkey faces a period of social tension, economic strain, and a devastating earthquake, life inside Dogan offers a stark contrast: calm, routine, and distance.

But when national events begin to encroach upon their doorstep, the building’s illusion of safety starts to crumble. The Façade offers a rare and intimate look into a kaleidoscope of lives inside one of İstanbul’s most symbolic addresses, raising questions about isolation, privilege, and how long any of us can truly remain unscathed by the world around us.

Watch our Film Teaser here:

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There were many moments when I wanted to give up.

And yet, something kept me going.

The Facade has strong international potential and has already received encouraging feedback from producers, festival programmers, and streaming platforms. Still, raising funds at the post-production stage has proven incredibly difficult and almost impossible. We faced around 60 rejections from grants and labs. Part of this is due to the complexity of both the film and my own professional path.

After building a career in Russia, I left the country in 2021 and had to start over, first in Turkey, then in Berlin, where I moved in 2023. Once filming was complete and the first rough cut was ready, I began searching for production partners. Until then, I financed the film entirely on my own, because it gave me the strength to move on, and I deeply wanted to share this very specific vision of Turkey and Istanbul in particular: multifaceted, heartfelt, yet still fragile and facing imminent change.

A perspective on what it felt like to arrive in this city as an outsider, slowly turning into an insider. Then the rocky road began to start. It took 250 emails and a year and a half to connect with Glass Frog Films, and another year to begin co-producing with Ankara-based ArtEA Productions.

Many times, I came close to abandoning the project. But the trust and support of the people who gradually joined the film gave me the strength to continue. Now, as a fully formed co-production, we have come very far, but we still need your help to finish.

We are very close.

At this stage, your support will go directly toward finalizing the editing, sound design and mix, music composition, color grading, archive materials, and, last but not least, mastering. Glass Frog Films is taking on its role as the German co-producer, overseeing all stages of the film’s completion.

For the final editing phase, we are working with the remarkable editor Eytan Ipeker, whose films are regularly featured at major European festivals, won the European Film Award and got awarded by the Turkish Film Critics Association. Together with him, we will finalize the story, dramaturgy, and overall shape of the film to create a cinema-ready production that resonates with audiences worldwide. The entire team behind the project believes that we need more stories from Turkey, and that The Facade is an important contribution to that conversation.

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Every donor will be credited in the film.

FOR SURE!

Donations of 15 EUR or more receive a postcard.

SIGNED - if you like!

Donations of 700 EUR or more include a special thank you credit and a hand-drawn illustration by me of the view from the Doğan Apartmanı rooftop.

100% SIGNED!

Donations of 1,000 EUR or more include a very special thank you credit and a photographic still from the Doğan Apartmanı garden (or you may choose the drawing instead).

WE TRY TO SIGN THEM ;)

If you are interested in becoming a larger partner or investor, please contact us on our website: GLASS FROG FILMS - CONTACT DETAILS

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OUR TEAM:

Director:

Tanya Chekhova began her filmmaking career in 2012, directing short documentaries and commercials in Russia. Her music documentary Let It Soul (2017) premiered at the Beat Film Festival and screened internationally, followed by Box of Matches (2020), which won a special prize at Beat. After leaving Russia in 2021, she moved to Istanbul, where she filmed her feature The Facade and shifted toward independent documentary work. In 2023, she relocated to Berlin, where her latest feature documentary Further and Further premiered at Doxumentale.

Producers (Germany):

Denis Pavlovic and Julia Meyer-Pavlovic.

Glass Frog Films is a Hamburg-based film production company dedicated to artistically distinctive documentary storytelling for both the national and international market. At the core of the work are socially relevant narratives that emerge from intimate, individual life worlds while reflecting broader political and global dynamics. We are drawn to stories shaped by historical ruptures, shifting identities, and societal fault lines. Our films combine emotional immediacy with precise observation, exploring themes of belonging, marginalization, generational transition, and the invisible forces that shape personal and collective realities.

Both founders hold degrees from the renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, with expertise in directing, editing, and production. This background provides them with comprehensive knowledge to manage projects from pre-production, through post-production, up until a distinctive distribution strategy. The company is open to diverse formats, ranging from classical long-form documentaries, to series and even modular or interactive approaches. Glass Frog Films develops its own projects, produces content for external clients, and collaborates with a growing international network of talented directors and established partners.

Producers (Turkey):

ArtEA Productions is a film and documentary company founded in 2023 in Ankara, working across documentaries, television, short films, and animation with a focus on social and cultural themes such as human rights, labor, and women’s empowerment. Led by award-winning director and producer Esin Özalp Öztürk, the company follows a research-driven, character-based approach and supports emerging filmmakers through hands-on production. ArtEA develops international collaborations, with projects including Harvest of Light and the Turkish–German co-production The Façade.

Editor

Eytan Ipeker is a Berlin-based, award-winning editor, director, and experimental filmmaker whose work has screened at major festivals including Cannes, Berlinale, Rotterdam, and Visions du Réel, as well as institutions such as Tate Modern. He received the European Film Award for Editing for Burning Days and has edited acclaimed documentaries such as Drifting and Hold Still / Dargeçit. His feature The Pageant premiered in competition at Visions du Réel. He works across Turkish, English, French, and German and is a member of BFS and KUDA.

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IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, REGARDS, COMMENTS, OR JUST WANT TO SAY HELLO,

we would love to hear from you!

CONTACT US