»Once the watchtower and the bus station appeared in my mind, the characters appeared too. … [The locations] are like my characters. They are temporary, transient places. They do not have a sense of belonging just like Seher and Nihat. Neither is home. They are safe, they are shelters yet places to be left. The Watchtower is the place where Nihat could watch rather than being watched; where he could hide from his story. And the small bus station along the road is the place where Seher could hide from hers and yet try to exist. It is a place of refuge, a cold, grey, noisy transit area where Seher is as transient as the passengers who stop for only a 15-minute break.
– Pelin Esmer

A man and a woman seek refuge from the world: Nihat, haunted by guilt, finds it by working as a fire ranger in a remote watchtower in the forest; Seher, escaping her family, lives in a small room at a rural bus station where she works as a cafe waitress. Both fight their inner demons alone until their paths cross and they form an unusual relationship, an elective affinity, in the watchtower. Against a background of opulent nature photography, Pelim Esmer draws a picture of two persons who have been jettisoned by a strict patriarchal society – and of their attempts with one another to recover.

Awards for ›Watchtower‹
Best Director, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2002 | Best Actress, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2002 | Best Supporting Actress, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2002 | Best Supporting Actor, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2002 | Best Cinematography, Adana Golden Boll Film Festival 2002