Ercan Imer

Filmmaker, creative director, nature man

filmmaker, creative director, nature man

Hello, I'm Ercan. I am from Istanbul. I'm an art director in a major paint company. I make educational films for a paint company. I live alone and I love nature.

Before Unravel, I was lost, real lost. My best friend just died. I had separated from my wife after 11 years. I came here to my little apartment with a camp chair, just camp chair. I had nothing. So I sat here and asked myself, "how can I start from scratch after a divorce?"

I was 36, 37 years old. I just tried to cheer myself up. I went fishing, camping, hunting. I collected knives, played guitar. I just searched for the meaning in my life or I just tried. I tried to keep my head busy, but there was this stress that I couldn't find where it was coming from. I was searching around, blind fighting with myself.

After Unravel, I figured out that this stress is coming from inside me. The biggest fight is inside of us and we are usually not brave enough to face it. So Unravel gave me, gave us the courage to face them.  We faced our biggest fights with big joy, with your great guidance. So we all thought you are angel. 

I'm a lazy student by the way. I didn't do the homework, just the funny ones. Even though I could not complete the coursework, it was life changing education, but not that classical kind of education.

I now feel calm, relieved of my stress. I solved the biggest questions in my head in even one step. That's it.

Before Unravel, I was lost. There was no light on my path. I was just waiting to die. I was waiting for the end of the movie. So Unravel showed us the way to make the movie more comfortable and livable. You will showed me the way, the easiest way. 

But you have to step forward. The name shows it, it unravels yourself. We build our shells by ourselves. When I was little, my teacher beat me because I couldn't dance. So I made a tough shell around that. Unravel showed us that we can break our shells. In every step, we saw the light from cracks of our shell. We just broke our shells.

I feel like I knew everyone in our group for a long time. We are all different people. I mean really different people. A science guy, a poet lady from America who like to talk, a savage man like myself,
I mean all different people in one group. It was amazing. No one judged each other. It was not like those typical healing groups, where everyone pretends that they love each other but they hate each other. But this one is not that group. This group was like a family.

Everyone was natural. Nobody lied to each other. Nobody pretended that they liked each other. I think this is the purest communication I've ever had in my life with people. I don't know. There are lots of people getting together and talking about something. But you can't imagine how deep Unravel goes. I mean I'm not promoting Unravel here. It looks like simple group sharing, but it goes really deep.

It's just like the pill from The Matrix. You take the pill and go in the rabbit hole. 

I will trust you by the way. I was trusting you before Unravel, so when the invitation came, I just accepted it really easily. But I had questions in my mind.

How can I speak with people I don't know? How can I express myself? Because we hide everything inside us. I didn't even show my wounds to my father, mother, brother. I hid it from my wife. I didn't share my wounds with anyone in my life. So how can I open my curtains to people I don't know?
So it was not easy, but if you go one step, Unravel comes to you two or three steps closer. So it was great.

When I left Unravel, there were two emotions. I was sad because it's just like leaving your family in your hometown and going down your own path. But I feel curious because I know how to find my way. I have tools. I have the weapons, so I will go deep down inside me. I will go on my path then.

It was great support. They support you just like a family. It was the first time in my life when I saw the bright light. 

After Unravel, my days are really calm. I mean it's surprising. I really feel calm. I feel I have released all my stress. I really feel it. Even in traffic, fights in the office, shitty revisions, I really feel like I know how to stay calm.

Now I have a plan for shitty situations. Shit happens. Stay calm, look for the solution, solve it. It goes away.

I'm not making this up by the way. I'm not pumping it. It's really, I feel calm. I still have that barking dog in me. It won't go away ever. I know now and I'm okay with that. I have a barking dog in my head so I just watch him barking. Now present, not projecting it out outside. I think facing that you have a barking dog inside you is scary. But Unravel showed us not to be scared of our dark sides.

For 38 years, I had that barking dog inside me. I was afraid that I had it inside me. I was just pretending that I didn't have it in in me. I was not facing it. But I face my dark side. Everyone has dark sides but they scared to face it. Facing it is not easy for the first time.

Unravel shows you how to find your balance of light and dark.

Unravel in 3 words? Oh, hard question. It's pure, joyful and natural. You showed us our natural selves. In the modern world, everything is shaping us. I mean they how tell you how to dress, how to speak, how to act, how to fear, how to fight. But it's not natural. You showed us how to be natural. You showed us our natural selves. You showed us the perfect versions of ourselves, our pure soul.

For the people who are on the fence about Unravel, just jump in. You can't imagine what you'll find inside yourself. It's not an easy path, but the brightest one, just follow it. 

Excerpt

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