Framing the Mayor is a practice-based documentary that explores the role and implications of objectivity and bias in political documentary filmmaking through a deliberately subjective approach. It uses archival footage, personal recordings, and voice-overs from interviews to tell the story of the public protests that followed the imprisonment of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and a prominent member of the political opposition.
The documentary takes a unique approach by avoiding the traditional comprehensive description of events and instead emphasizing the role of arrangement of narrative in shaping meaning. Through techniques such as montage, pacing, shot selection, and sound design, the film thus demonstrates how the same material can be framed in different ways to shape audience interpretation. Instead of using talking-head interviews, interview responses are incorporated as anonymous voice-overs, which shifts the film away from a didactic, narrator-led structure and creates a more immersive and emotionally driven viewing experience.
The goal of the film is to highlight how documentary narratives can influence and mediate perceptions of truth, rather than providing a definitive position on objectivity. By constructing a specific version of events, Framing the Mayor encourages viewers to critically reflect on whether documentaries can, or should, act as unbiased representations of reality.