Ein Winter in Istanbul

Cla, a religion teacher from the Engadin, wants to spend a winter in Istanbul. He is working on a study about Nicholas of Cusa’s mission to Constantinople. But as soon as Cla meets the young Turkish waiter Baran, he immerses himself in the city: they wander through the alleyways and markets, sit by the sea and in cafés, go to the hammam. In their conversations, the late medieval world with its division into Eastern and Western churches collides directly with the religiously divided Istanbul of the present day. At a secret meeting of dervishes, Cla experiences how close Christian mysticism and Islamic Sufism can be. Without wanting to, he falls in love with Baran. It is only when his fiancée comes to visit from Switzerland that Cla realises how far he has strayed from his life.