The Diary of an Exile develops around the memories and daily life of revolutionary musician Fuat Saka, who had to leave Turkey just before the Turkish coup d’etat in 1980 because of his political views and a fascist attack against him on the eve of 1979. Following his escape, Saka lived in exile for nearly 20 years starting from 1980’s and through the 1990s. His music was shaped during the exile and became diverse. He took the traditions of anatolian music and mixed it with the music of different cultures. His perspective and attitude towards music would enable him as an artist to produce music in different genres and to be one of the pioneers in the emergence of what would later be called World Music. While the film takes the audience back and forth in time, it also tells the ups and downs of his life and music.
