Wednesday, March 07, 2012

31. Istanbul IFF | National Competition Films

The programme of the 31st Istanbul Film Festival was announced on Wednesday, 7 March at the press conference held in İKSV Salon. Speakers during the press conference were İKSV Chairman of Board of Directors Bülent Eczacıbaşı, Akbank General Manager Hakan Binbaşıgil and Assistant Director of the Istanbul Film Festival Kerem Ayan.


The festival programme presents a rich content to cinephiles as always. The festival will meet the audience this year with a wide spectrum selections expanding new feature movies of 2011 and 2012, unforgetable classic movies, and masterpieces of master directors, movies having world premieres in Sundance in January and in Berlin in February, National Golden Tulip, International Golden Tulip and FACE Human Rights Competitions, documentaries, and children movies. “Cinema and Music” section planned for the 40th year of İKSV as well as new sections like “Filming Revolution”, “What’s Happening in Greece?” and “A Chinese Film Tradition: WuXia”, “Within the Family” and 15-hour-long special view of Mark Cousins’s The Story of Film: An Odyssey stand out in the festival. The Special Prize of the Jury, which was supported with a monetary award for the first time in 2011, will come to be distributed by Efes this year. Among the films partaking in the Golden Tulip National Competition, the director of the film to win the Special Jury Prize in the memory of Onat Kutlar, will be awarded 30,000 US Dollars by Efes to be used in his/her next film.  



This year, the Golden Tulip International Competition Jury will be led by renowned director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who lately won the Special Jury Prize in Cannes Film Festival with his latest film Once Upon A Time in Anatolia. In addition to the Golden Tulip as the Grand Prize of the festival, the jury will also present a director the Special Prize of the Jury for exceptional achievement. The International Competition will be supported by a total of 25,000 Euro monetary prizes to be given by the Eczacıbaşı Group in the memory of Şakir Eczacıbaşı. Of this total amount, 10,000 Euros will be given to the Turkish distributor of the film to earn the Golden Tulip Best Film award.


NATIONAL COMPETITION


Meanwhile, the Golden Tulip National Competition Jury will be headed by poet and writer Murathan Mungan, whose several works have been adapted to theater. Mungan was also the screenwriter of Dağınık Yatak / An Untidy Bed by Atıf Yılmaz, considered a cult film by many. Lead by Mungan, the jury will hand out nine awards including the Best Turkish Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Best Director of Photography, Best Music, Best Editing, and Special Prize of the Jury.


The film to be selected as the Best Turkish Film will be awarded 150,000 TL, and the Best Director will be awarded 50,000 TL. The Best Actress and Best Actor will be awarded 10,000 TL each.



31.  Istanbul IFF | National Competition Films 
March 31-April 15, 2012


(World Premiers) 
Ben Uçtum, Sen Kaldın / Mizgin Müjde Arslan
Ana Dilim Nerede? / Veli Kahraman
Şimdiki Zaman / Belmin Söylemez
Ferahfeza / Elif Refiğ


(National Premiers) 
Tepenin Ardı / Emin Alper 
Lal Gece / Reis Çelik
Babamın Sesi / Orhan Eskiköy & Zeynel Doğan


and in competition


İz-Rêç / M. Tayfur Aydın   
Can / Raşit Çelikezer 
Yeraltı / Zeki Demirkubuz 
Nar / Ümit Ünal 

The Crossing | Kavsak by Selim Demirdelen (2010)

The Crossing | Kavsak
Turkey, 2010, 95 Minutes
Genre/Subjects: Drama, Family Issues


DIRECTOR: Selim Demirdelen
Producer: Turker Korkmaz
Screenwriter: Selim Demirdelen
Cinematographer: Aydin Sarioglu
Principal Cast: Güven Kirac, Sezin Akbasogullari

The hero of Turkish writer/director Selim Demirdelen's psychological drama is a painfully shy middle-aged accountant named Güven (Güven Kirac), who measures out his life in equal portions of work and family: the highlight of each weekday seems to be an afternoon phone call from his small daughter, assuring her father that she's home safe from school. But Güven has a secret, we soon learn: he has no daughter, no wife, no family at all. In the wake of tragedy, this bulky, quiet man in a buttoned-up cardigan has constructed an elaborate domestic fantasy to help him cope.

Demirdelen enriches this portrait of loneliness with those of two of Güven's co-workers, a prickly young man named Haydar (Umut Kurt) and a struggling young mother, Arzu (Sezin Akbasogullari), recently separated from her alcoholic husband. Then there’s Güven’s explosive upstairs neighbor, Vedat (Cengiz Bozkurt), who torments his wife, daughter and ancient mother with screaming rants.

Set alternately in the stifling accountancy office, the dark, rainy streets of Istanbul and the bleak hospital where the various traumas of its characters are revealed, The Crossing is a compelling examination of an ordinary man's extraordinary capacity for sacrifice and of the mysterious ties that bind us. Güven Kirac's performance as the anonymous Everyman is beautifully detailed down to the smallest gesture of bewilderment or despair.
—Bill Gallo

Friday, March 02, 2012

Yoghurt and murder with Nuri Bilge Ceylan


  • guardian.co.uk

  • Yoghurt and murder with Nuri Bilge Ceylan


    It won the Cannes grand prix – but people have been walking out of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Stuart Jeffries finds him unrepentant



    once upon time anatolia'The problem with Hollywood," says Nuri Bilge Ceylan, "is the audience expects to get the answers like a pill. They expect to know not just whodunnit, but the motives of the characters, the how and why. Real life is not like that. Even our closest friend – we don't know what he really thinks. In films we want more than in real life, everything being made clear. That means this kind of cinema is a lie. I cannot make cinema that way."


    I had asked the 52-year-old Turkish director to explain why his new film Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, which won the grand prix at Cannes last year, refuses to provide answers. It's an epically lugubrious, austerely beautiful 157-minute police procedural in which a murder suspect is driven around the Anatolian steppes at night in a convoy of police cars, to find the place where he and his brother buried their victim. Along the way, we learn lots of increasingly gloomy things: what kind of yoghurt the cops like, how Turkey will need to reform itself to join the EU, that the local doctor likes to quote Russian poetry – but not who did what to whom and why.


    "I know my films can be difficult and exasperating," says Ceylan with a smile as we sit in a London hotel. Indeed. Some people have walked out during the autopsy scene, on account of all the unpleasant squelching that forces viewers to imagine the grisly visuals the camera is refusing to capture.


    One of the most striking things about the film, though, is the fact that, while all the protagonists are men, it is women who drive the story. The murder was probably committed because of a woman. The prosecutor's wife (again probably) committed suicide on the same day her child was born, in revenge for her husband's infidelity. And, in one key scene, a small-town mayor supplies the investigators with a night-time meal at which his beautiful daughter dispenses tea. The men all seem to have a religious epiphany as they see her candlelit face. What was that about? "If you see a girl like this in London, it wouldn't influence you. There are many beautiful girls around. In the desert, when a girl like that, at the end of a long night, appears like a madonna in your ordinary world, that moment has the sense of a miracle."


    This notion also helped them solve a script problem. "We couldn't work out why the guy confesses where the body is at that point. We wanted to find a realistic reason. So we talked with a police chief in Anatolia. And he told this story, 'Sometimes I'll beat a suspect for three days and they don't even say one word. Then they hear a child or see a woman. Suddenly they cry and want to confess everything.'" Because of her beauty and her seeming compassion? "Definitely. In The Brothers Karamazov, you remember, Dmitri wakes up and realises somebody has put a pillow under his head. That makes him confess to a murder he hasn't committed."


    There are autobiographical elements to the film: the all-male milieu, for instance, is partly based on Ceylan's experience of military service. But then Ceylan has often plundered his life for material. In 2000's Clouds of May, about a film-maker incessantly filming his parents, his mother and father played the parents. Ceylan readily admits it was a self-critical film: "In my first film, I had taken all these images of my family and used them. And when I looked at what I'd photographed back in Istanbul I saw that I had taken and given nothing back. My grandmother was trying to talk to me and I wouldn't listen while I was filming. I was very selfish and I wanted to make a film about that."


    Uzak, two years later, was about a seemingly sophisticated and successful Istanbul photographer called Mahmut (clearly modelled on Ceylan), who is visited by his unemployed, uneducated cousin Yusuf. There's a terrific scene in which Mahmut puts on a video of a Tarkovskymovie to impress his cousin, who gets bored and leaves. As soon as he does so, Mahmut flicks over to porn. In 2006's Climates, Ceylan appears opposite his wife in an unremitting drama about a marriage on the skids, again clearly based on his own.


    "After a while, I ran out of autobiography," he says, "so I started making other films." Three Monkeys, in 2008, was the first, a marvellously taut existential drama about denial and desire in which a politician's driver takes the fall when his boss kills a pedestrian while asleep at the wheel. The second post-autobiographical film is Once Upon a Time in Anatolia – or it would be if its lead were not so evidently steeped in Ceylan's melancholic sensibility. "I can't help that. When you construct a character, you look at the person you know best: yourself.I decorate each character with weaknesses of the human soul and, to check whether those decorations are true, I look at myself."


    Near the end, there's another miracle. The doctor, after a long irksome night, walks out into the small town where he has lived for a year or so. He sees it as if for the first time: an awning flaps in the wind, the breeze carries a flock of birds into the sky. "That feeling I know very well," says Ceylan. "Sometimes everything touches you completely differently. That is what the melancholy want – to feel they exist."




    Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
    Production year: 2010
    Country: Rest of the world
    Runtime: 157 mins
    Directors: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
    Cast: Firat Tanis, Muhammet Uzuner, Taner Birsel, Yilmaz Erdogan

    Thursday, February 23, 2012

    In Istanbul, a Film Festival Is Heavy on Politics

    February 15, 2012, 6:00 AM

    In Istanbul, a Film Festival Is Heavy on Politics

    The actor Kerem Can in the role of Can Ozturk in the Turkish film "Zenne Dancer.Photo courtesy !f FestivalThe actor Kerem Can in the role of Can Ozturk in the Turkish film “Zenne Dancer.

    The !f Istanbul International Independent Film Festival opens on Thursday with several movies that touch on controversial issues. It will screen more than 80 movies for an estimated 55,000 viewers in Istanbul, and many of the films examine matters like politics and the environment, at viewings occasionally hosted by stars.
    Serra Ciliv, the festival director, said that though there had been no Arab Spring in Turkey, she included two films  on protest movements within the country: “Against the Flow,” a student-made film on efforts to block dam-building in the Black Sea region, and “Playing House,” directed by Bingol Elmas, about child brides.
    One film that does focus on the Arab Spring is the three-part Egyptian documentary “Tahrir 2011’’ by Ayten Amin, Tamer Ezzat and Amr Salama. It begins with the 18-day protest in the Cairo square, followed by interviews with President Mubarak’s security forces, and ends with a section on “how those in power were manipulating, or thought they were manipulating, the people,” Ms. Ciliv said.
    A screening of a film focusing on homophobia gets an injection of star power. Rupert Everett will host a screening of the Turkish film “Zenne Dancer,” a feature inspired by the story of Ahmet Yildiz, whose father is charged with murder in what has been labeled as the first gay honor killing in Turkey.

    Monday, February 20, 2012

    Aysun Bademsoy

    Christian Petzold (b. September 14, 1960, Hilden) who won with Barbara the Silver Bear for best director in Berlinale 2012, is married to the documentary film maker Aysun Bademsoy and lives with his family in Berlin-Kreuzberg. 


    AYSUN BADEMSOY  (filmportal.de)




    Born on 14.3.1960 in Mersin, Turkey, Aysun Bademsoy has been living in Berlin since 1969. She studied theatre and journalism at the FU Berlin from 1978-89, and performed in TV movies and series during her studies. She has worked as a production manager, cutter, and assistant director for Harun Farocki. She directed her first documentary, Fremde Deutsche Nachbarschaft, in 1989, the year she graduated. In her many documentaries since, she has consistently dealt with the topic of life together with regard to Turks and Germans.



    EHRE (HONOUR) 2011 | 87 min

    In her documentary film, Aysun Bademsoy tries to approach the term ‘honour’ by searching for distinctions and similarities of the term in different sociocultural contexts.

    Director: Aysun Bademsoy;  Camera: Nikola Wyrwich, Sven Jakob; Editor: Clemens Seiz






    IN THE GAME (ICH GEHE JETZT REIN)


    DIRECTOR: AYSUN BADEMSOY; PRODUCTION: HARUN FAROCKI FILMPRODUKTION.
    Documentary Film / Germany, 2008, 73'


    In her documentaries Girls On The Pitch (Mädchen am Ball, 1995) and After the Game(Nach dem Spiel, 1997) Aysun Bademsoy followed five young Turkish girls from Berlin-Kreuzberg, who belonged to the successful Turkish football team “BSC Agrispor”. Thirteen years ago Safiye, Arzu, Türkan, Nalan, and Nazan spoke of their dreams to become professionals, but as well about their difficulties regarding finding their place between Turkish culture, their parents, and their own dreams. Today they are captured between their families and at their workplaces, and all the strength and hope for a better future seem to be gone.


    Filmography



    Ehre (TV documentary) 
    2008Ich gehe jetzt rein (documentary) 
    2006On the Outskirts (documentary) 
    2005Die Hochzeitsfabrik (documentary) 
    1997Nach dem Spiel (TV documentary) 
    1995Mädchen am Ball (short) 
    1994Fremde Kinder (TV series documentary) 


    Saturday, February 18, 2012

    Berlinale | Caligari Award for Tepenin Ardı




    A three-person jury awards the Caligari Film Prize to a film in the Forum. The prize is sponsored by the "German Federal Association of Communal Film Work" and “filmdienst” magazine. The winning film is honoured with 4,000 Euros, half of which is given to the director, the other half is meant to fund distribution.


    Mavi Boncuk |
    One of the two Turkish films at this year’s Berlin Film Festival is director/writer/ historian Emin Alper’s gem of a debut feature, titled “Tepenin Ardı” (Beyond The Hill).


    Set in a rural Anatolian town, the film toys with genre conventions of the Western, thriller and family drama and succeeds in creating a chilling portrayal of a group of men (young and old) who come together in the name of fighting against a “common enemy.” The best part is that there actually is no enemy, and this notion only becomes an excuse for these men to re-establish and re-create their given roles in a male-dominated community that is the product of an authoritarian and patriarchal culture. The film, shown under the Forum section, is competing for the Best First Feature Award at the Berlinale, and the winners will be announced on Sunday.


    The affable duo of director Alper and his producer Enis Köstepen from Bulut Film spoke to Today’s Zaman this week at the Berlinale about their film and the status of Turkish art house cinema.


    By day, you work as a history teacher. How did you venture into filmmaking?


    Emin Alper: Actually, my journey in cinema began long before my journey in history. I was interested in cinema right from the beginning while I was doing my undergraduate studies in economics. I was a member of the cinema club at university, and I would always write about cinema. I was also writing drafts of screenplays. Then, I found myself doing my masters and then Ph.D. in history. So I kind of ended up in the academic world. But I always wanted to make a film; I previously directed two short movies [“Rifat” and “Mektup”] and in my mind, I always wanted to make a feature. I had many screenplay ideas. So I can’t actually say that I started as a historian and then ventured into filmmaking.


    So why did you choose to write and direct “Beyond the Hill” as your first feature film? How did the process begin?


    E.A.: To be honest, I began with “Beyond the Hill” because it had a small budget. In fact, my first feature project idea was something entirely different. But the problem was that it was quite a large-scale project, and we couldn’t get support from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Directorate of Cinema for that. So then, I thought I would start with something smaller. We’ve been friends with the producers from Bulut Film for a long time, and we were talking about collaborating on something and hence, this was the project that seemed the most feasible. But of course, the filmmaking process is an evolutionary one; for instance, this story was much closer to a family drama [in the beginning, while the final script relies more on] metaphoric allusions.


    There were many drafts of the script, and while we were talking about and discussing the story in the early stages, this notion of “creating an enemy outside of the community” was only one of the ideas. The film had stronger elements of the concept of adolescence, for instance. But then as we talked, the other elements fell more to the background, and the concepts of “patriarchy” and “common enemies” became a priority. We felt like we needed to make a statement, and we thought it could be more provocative.


    How did you work with the actors? All of them seem so brilliant and incredibly attuned to the story, they seem like they actually inhabit that world as opposed to just “performing” -- especially Tamer Levent as the grandfather, who is the main “father figure” of this patriarchal clan.


    E.A.: Well, I really worked on the casting process. The grandfather character was very important and actually, we found Tamer Levent at a very late stage of pre-production. And also, the thing is, I mean this is my first film, and I couldn’t just invite people in for an audition. Mainly I watched the actors’ previous work, and then we gave them the script. They all liked it a lot, which was a very important factor for us. They really dedicated themselves to the process. Mostly, we did several readings before we went on set. They’re all very talented actors.


    And how long did it take to shoot?


    E.A.: Three weeks! It was very difficult regarding the time constraint and the budget. I mean, we shot the last scene right at the last hour of the last shooting day, and if we had missed the sunset, we would have had to shoot another day.


    You’ve received extremely good reviews from the foreign press in Berlin. How do you think the film will do back at home, at the Turkish box office?


    E.A.: It’s hard to say, but if we look at previous examples of Turkish art house cinema, it’s not a brilliant situation. I mean, for example, Seren Yüce’s “Çoğunluk” [Majority] got rave reviews in Turkey and abroad, it won the best first feature film award at the Venice Film Festival and the best film award at Antalya’s Golden Orange. Around 20,000 people watched it in cinemas in Turkey, and this is a good-case scenario. I mean, a lot of the people I knew went to see “Majority” so I thought at least 80,000 people must have seen it, but it turns out that it was less.


    Enis Köstepen: The problem with distribution of art house movies in Turkey is that the producers have to shoulder the entire load. Other parties besides producers should be involved in creating better distribution conditions for art house films, especially the distributors and the exhibitors. In the current situation, you’re lucky if your film gets shown for one week in a cinema in a mall. Then again, you look at the İstanbul Film Festival, and over the years it has managed to sustain and create a steady audience, the tickets are immediately sold out. But through traditional distribution channels, none of the distributors or movie theater owners make an effort to create or sustain art house audiences; they don’t make an event out of it. I think that a new method should be developed to attract audiences to these kinds of films and promote them; new tools should be created.


    E.A.: Exactly. I mean in Turkey, we don’t have a distribution system that supports the word-of-mouth method. If your movie doesn’t do well in the first few days, then it’s pulled out of the system. Independent directors consider themselves lucky if their movie runs for two weeks. It seems that the blockbusters have invaded all of the theaters, and they stay for months. The thing is, this isn’t only true for Turkish independents but also for foreign independents. Even a film like “Melancholia,” which won an award at Cannes, from internationally acclaimed director Lars von Trier, will not get a lengthy distribution time [in Turkey]. The pie doesn’t get any larger, because the number of movie theaters remains the same, but at the same time, more and more films are getting made.


    So, how do you feel about the critics’ reaction in Berlin? Do you think they expect a certain kind of film from Turkish art house cinema?


    E.A.: I really can’t say something conclusive about that. I mean, I haven’t quite grasped what’s really going on. However, for example, there was an article in The Hollywood Reporter that said in Turkish festival films, the influence of Nuri Bilge Ceylan was rampant, and mine was “one of his more successful heirs.” I guess they like to categorize new Turkish festival films under that umbrella. But I mean, like I said, I can’t generalize these expectations. Some who watched the film in Berlin also said it was quite different from other art house movies made in Turkey.


    This is a very “male story” since it chooses to follow men who are the victims/perpetrators of the patriarchal society. The only adult female is the character of Meryem, who is actually the most sound and mature person in the story. Was there a reason her name is Meryem, a Turkish name that is the equivalent of Mary? Does it symbolize something?


    E.A.: Actually it’s a coincidence that her name is Meryem.


    E.K.: Don’t forget though that her name in the first script was “Eve”!


    E.A.: You’re right! You’re the first person who noticed that! It must have been a subconscious decision. Well, the woman in the story did end up taking on the responsibility of being the most sensible character. She is a victim of this society as well, and she is left out of the inner circle of these men, she has been left outside of that world, and thus she becomes the objective observer of the events that unfold. This film is a criticism on “male communities” and the dynamics of the patriarchal system.


    It seems that lately there have been a lot of art house Turkish films that tackle the “patriarchal society” and its effect on individuals. What do you think about that?


    E.A.: People try to explain and explore concepts that hurt them. The patriarchal system is also something that hurts men as well; I mean, we are all, men and women, victims of this situation. It’s not a coincidence that filmmakers take on these subjects.


    How are men the victims of patriarchy?


    E.A.: For instance, I think that men who are a bit more understanding have a gentler nature that cannot always deal with the authoritarian culture. And I think these cultures can be very violent, this really disturbs me. There are a lot of pressures on men too, they can be oppressed in two ways, either they are forced to perpetrate violence or they become the direct victims of violence. Having to perpetrate violence is a very serious problem. If you do not choose to execute violence then you are made to feel as if you are a “less of a man.”


    Are you working on a second film?


    E.A.: Yes, there is another script I’m working on. This is going to be something directly political, not metaphorical like “Beyond the Hill.” It’s a political thriller that takes place in İstanbul. It will also tackle the “male community” issue.


    How do you feel about being at the Berlinale? It must be a great honor.


    E.A.: Of course, I’m very happy. It was a bit stressful for a while because I’m not very used to being under such scrutiny. So many people watch your movie and then comment about it. I mean, in academia, you write one article and maybe 15 people read it, and they don’t even comment on it! Suddenly, I saw 700 people in the theater, so at first I got quite stressed. But then, when we started getting positive reviews, I was happy again.

    Review | Beyond the Hill



    Mavi Boncuk | BERLIN 2012 REVIEW: BEYOND THE HILL (TEPENIN ARDI)
    by Brian Clark, February 12, 2012 1:32 AM
    BERLIN / EFM 2012, CONTINENTAL EUROPE & RUSSIA, THRILLER
    On the surface, Beyond the Hill is a fairly straight-forward slow-burn psychological thriller about an unseen enemy. However, within this structure, Director Emin Alper weaves in pointed political and cultural allegory along with elements of (deep breath...) dark comedy, revisionist-westerns, family-dramas, mysteries and horror films. That he's able to deftly balance all of these aspects without losing the audience or sacrificing the film's suspense is all the more impressive.

    The film takes place in a rural valley in Turkey underneath rocky hills. Here, an old man named Faik spends his retirement tending land in his hometown with the help of a sharecropper family. As the movie begins, an ongoing conflict between Faik and the nomads over the hell is apparently reaching a boiling point, and the old man is already fraught with anger and paranoia. After his son and grandsons arrive to visit, everything goes off the deep end.

    The less said about how the plot develops, the better, which is a relief since the complicated character dynamics which fuel the film's momentum would take at least another five hundred words to describe. Not to worry though, thanks to a meticulous script and excellent acting across the board, everything is communicated smoothly and without fuss.

    As the various alliances, suspicions and checkered histories escalate so does Faik's obsessive paranoia about the nomads. If Faik seems to be blowing the rivalry out of proportion, well, that seems to be the norm with this family. In fact, one slightly problematic aspect of the film is the fact that almost every character is either completely misguided, self-absorbed or in many cases, both. The notable exception is Meryem, the only adult female. But, though she's clearly more level-headed then all of the men combined, no one really listens to her. Probably not the first woman this has ever happened to.

    Still, the acting is superb, and the flaws actually create the ticking-time-bomb anticipation about each character, which proves crucial to the film's suspense. And, as an interesting side note, Alper maintains in the press notes that Faik's irrational fear of the other is the norm for Turkey, and points to the Kurdish conflict along with other historical examples to back this assertion up.

    In any case, we suspect from the beginning that the nomads aren't really the biggest threat here. But the way Alper toys with genre conventions and expectations to maintain a sense of mystery, and more importantly, dread, makes this point almost moot.

    For example, we know that that the youngest boy's fascination with his grandfather's rifle will probably end badly. However, Alper never pays off this plot point the way we expect, and by the time he does, the tension created by other subplots is so thick, that the boy's action seems like an afterthought. By two-thirds into the movie, every gunshot that echoes off the hill is a cause for alarm, even if we're not sure who is responsible for it or what the exact circumstances are. When everything finally converges, we are not left with the ending we expect, but rather something much more inspired, darkly-hilarious and in its way, perfectly fitting.

    The sprawling rural landscape is also integrated seamlessly into the film, with cinematography that refuses to merely capture the sense of space, but to actively engage it in the story. Alper's direction is also masterful, and nearly every shot in the film is infused with some sense of wonder, dread or both. Several well-timed camera movements aid film's tension so well that they'd make Brian De Palma blush.

    I did describe the movie as a "slow-burn" thriller, and it's worth noting that the story takes a bit of time to pick up momentum. Personally, I didn't have a problem with this strategy, and for the most part, the film works much better this way. However, while Alper indeed carries the multi-faceted narrative quite well, I sometimes wondered if the movie would have been a bit more propulsive and compelling if he had simplified and paired down the script just a bit.

    But ultimately, it's far more exciting to see filmmakers shoot for the moon and land just short than to see another safe, well-produced and totally forgettable foray into well-worn territory. And so, I'm grateful for Beyond the Hill, and I'm certainly looking forward to whatever Alper tackles next.




    A Turkish-Greek coproduction at the Berlinale Forum!


    Mavi Boncuk |A Turkish-Greek coproduction at the Berlinale Forum!


    NEWS 2012-01-26  /  Manolis Kranakis


    “Beyond the Hill”, a Turkish-Greek coproduction courtesy of director Emin Alper features prominently among the Forum’s 38 titles - the Berlin International Film Festival’s most restless section – after participating in the Thessaloniki International Film Festival’s Crossroads Co-production Forum in 2010. This year he returned with a scene selection from the half-finished film, which screened as a Work in Progress at the Film Market, winning a special mention.


    Among the many professionals who watched those first 10 minutes in Thessaloniki was Anna Hoffmann, the Berlinale Forum coordinator. The Greek coproduction deal was also a direct result of the festival, as the filmmakers happened to meet the people in charge of Greek post-production house 2/35 during the Film Market. They immediately signed on and the project was later completed in Athens.


    According to the film’s official synopsis, “Beyond the Hill” tells the story of Faik, who returns home to work the land he inhereted from his grandfather after leaving the state forestry service. One summer day, his son and two grandchildren drop by to see him. His older grandson is a war veteran, suffering from mental disorders, while his younger grandson is a teenager, desperately trying to prove his manhood. At the exact moment of their arrival, Faik’s dispute with the trespassing nomads has almost become a vendetta. In retaliation for some earlier behavior, Faik steals one of their goats, which he plans to slaughter and cook for his family. His macho reaction inspires hatred in his son and grandchildren, who will turn against the nomads with tragic consequences…

    Review | Night Of Silence


    Mavi Boncuk |
    Night Of Silence
    12 February, 2012 | By Dan Fainaru


    Dir/scr: Reis Celik. Turkey. 2012. 90mins

    The minimalist spirit of Nuri Bilge Ceylan is hovering over the proceedings in Night Of Silence (Lal Gece) and indeed, he gets an appropriate mention in the final credits. With the exception of a 15 minutes introduction, the entire picture takes place in one single room and relies on two remarkably subtle and understated performances by a man in his sixties and a young girl who couldn’t be more than 14.

    Celik’s direction pinpoints a way of life and a certain type of ceremonies that add their own dimension to the metaphor.

    Deliberately very slow, often poetical but certainly nothing like any wedding night movie one would imagine, it’s inclusion in Berlinale’s Generation section might be misleading, for Reis Celik, better known as a documentary filmmaker, offers the kind of fiction to be savoured only by patiently mature art house audiences.

    Having spent most of his life behind bars for killing, first his mother and then another man, to safeguard the honour of the family, Damat/Groom (Ilyas Salman) is finally back in his mountain village and the family has arranged for him to marry a girl he has never seen, Gelin/Bride (Dilan Aksut).

    The marriage isn’t just the prize he gets for respecting tradition at a high cost, but also the final act that will put an end to an ancient blood feud between two families. Though it opens with the customary colourful local scenes of a traditional Turkish country wedding, the mood changes once Celik leads his two main protagonists into the bridal room, where the act of marriage is to be consumed and proof of the husband’s virility - as well as of his wife’s virginity - is to be produced when the sun comes up.

    From this point on the film unfolds in an unexpected direction. For the two persons left alone in this room are both terrified, each in his own way and both for their own very good reasons. They both realize they have to play their parts as husband and wife just as conventions expect them, but neither one nor the other knows exactly how to do it.

    The girl, a pretty image of early adolescence, is fearful and surly, hesitating and trying any subterfuge she can think of to delay the critical moment. The man, squat, stocky, with a weather-beaten face and an awe-inspiring moustache, is surprisingly gentle and understanding in his own gruff way, attempts to melt down her resistance and refrains from ever using his authority or force, to get his way. As the sparing match between the two of them reaches its final stages, the girl seems to cope with her anguish better than the man, whose past keeps creeping up to the surface to crush him down.

    With its opening sequence taking place in a cemetery and the final one overlooking the spectacular snow-covered landscape of a silent village, the morning after, this isn’t a very happy picture. Its intimate, sensitive and well-shot portrait of a tragic situation foretold, could be easily construed as a veiled allegory of a society keeling under the weight of patriarchal customs and never daring to say a word against it.

    Unobtrusively, Celik’s direction pinpoints a way of life and a certain type of ceremonies that add their own dimension to the metaphor. The restraint of both Ilyas Salman and Dilan Aksut plays in their favour, both of them simple, humane and touching characters, their reactions to each other natural and devoid of all mannerisms. There is no musical score to underline the plot, the spare nature of the entire project is eloquent enough on its own terms.

    Production companies: Kaz Film, Istanbul
    Executive Producers: Israfil Parlak, Ekrem Celik
    Cinematography: Gurhan Tiryaki
    Editor: Reis Celik
    Production design: Burcu Karakas
    Main cast: Ilya Salman, Dilan Aksut

    Berlinale | Crystal Bear for the Best Film Lal Gece


    Mavi Boncuk |

    The members of the Generation 14plus Youth Jury Klara Kruse Rosset, Gülcan Çil, Solveig Lethen, Jarnail Fang Yu Singh Sekhon, Sami Yacob, Nico Palesch and Lino Steinwärder, award the following prizes:

    Crystal Bear for the Best Film Lal Gece (Night of Silence) by Reis Çelik

    We were deeply touched by he brilliant actors in this year’s winning film. They let us take part in the feelings of two people who are imprisoned by family traditions which do not leave them any space for their own decision making and needs. We were especially impressed by the film’s setting - a room where the drama unfolds. Just as for the couple, it is impossible for the audience to leave it.

    Turkey 2012, 92 min
    Turkish
    DIRECTOR: Reis Çelik
    CAST: Ilyas Salman, Dilan Aksüt

    Wednesday, February 15, 2012

    Mizgin Mujde Arslan and Ozay Sahin have been detained on Monday, February 13th


    Dear Friends,
    We regret to inform that our friends and colleagues Mizgin Mujde Arslan and Ozay Sahin have been detained on Monday, February 13th. Arslan is a director, author and scholar. Sahin is also a director, cinematographer and actor. The authorities allege that they collaborate with KCK, claimed to be the urban wing of the Kurdish rebel group the PKK. 
    Turkey recently has witnessed a massive police operation against activists, advocates, academics, and publishers who are pro-Kurdish on the grounds of alleged links to the outlawed “Union of Communities in Kurdistan” (sometimes also referred to as the Kurdish Communities Union), known by its Kurdish-language acronym, the KCK.
    Mizgin Mujde Arslan contributed to the cinema of Turkey not only with her films that have been selected to many national and international film festivals but also with her reviews and books. “The Lost Grave”, the film she has only just completed is the story of her father. It is a symbol of the last 30 years of mutual pain that our country has been suffering. This project is considered as an instrument for peace and it has been subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey.
    Ozay Sahin’s feature documentary “Can Baz” which he made after working in the film industry as an actor, cinematographer and editor, has been selected to many international festivals. He was the director of photography for “The Lost Grave”. 
    We have not forgotten the declaration our Minister of Internal Affairs, İdris Naim Sahin made on 26 December 2011. By saying “With poetry, articles, paintings they justify terrorism,” he clearly condemned artists and the oppository ways of thinking. This was a sign of the conflict we face today. 
    The detention of Mizgin Mujde Arslan, Ozay Sahin and many other people definitely proves that there is an ongoing intervention to the Kurdish community behind these operations related to KCK. Until today thousands of people have been victimized by these operations and we have no doubt that artists are especially targeted alongside students, politicians, journalists, workers and scholars. 
    We, the undersigned film industry members are very concerned by these operations. We deeply regret those detentions and arrestations of artists following the Minister of Internal Affair İdris Naim Sahin’s declaration. We demand the immediate release of our friends and colleagues Mizgin Mujde Arslan and Ozay Sahin.
    Hüseyin Karabey,
    Özcan Alper,
    Semih Kaplanoğlu,
    Yeşim Ustaoğlu,
    Zeki Demirkubuz,
    Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun,
    Tayfun Pirselimoğlu,
    Pelin Esmer,
    Seyfi Teoman,
    Altyazı (monthly film review) 
    Ankara International Film Festival
    docIstanbul Documentary Research Center 
    Documentarist International Documentary Festival 
    Filmmor International Women’s Film Festival 
    Labour Film Festival
    Sinesen (Filmmakers Union)
    Flying Broom International Women’s Film Festival 
    Yeni Film Magazine
    Ahmet Gürata, 
    Ahmet Soner, 
    Alper Turgut,
    Alin Taşçıyan, 
    Alişan Önlü,
    Aliye Uçar, 
    Arin İnan Arslan, 


    Aslı Filiz, 
    Aslı Güneş,
    Aslı Özge, 
    Ayça Çiftçi, 
    Ayça Damgacı, 
    Aylin Sayın, 
    Ayşe Çetinbaş,
    Aziz Akal, 
    Aziz Çapkurt ,
    Azize Tan, 
    Baran Seyhan, 
    Barış Pirhasan,
    Belma Baş, 
    Belmin Söylemez, 
    Berke Baş, 
    Berke Göl, 
    Bingöl Elmas, 
    Birsen Atakan,
    Burcu Aykar, 


    Burçin S. Yalçın, 


    Burhan Gün, 


    Can Candan, 


    Cem Öztüfekçi, 


    Cemre Ceren Asarlı, 
    Ceylan Özçelik,
    Cüneyt Cebenoyan,
    Çağdaş Günerbüyük, 
    Çayan Demirel, 


    Çiçek Kahraman, 


    Çiğdem Kesik, 


    Çiğdem Mater, 


    Didem Şahin,


    Elif Bezal,


    Elif Ergezen, 


    Elif Turhan, 


    Enis Köstepen, 


    Emel Çelebi, 


    Erol Mintaş, 


    Esin Küçüktepepınar, 


    Esra Demirkıran


    Evrim Kaya, 
    Faruk Hacıhafızoğlu, 


    Farhad Eivazi,


    Faysal Soysal, 


    Ferit Karahan, 


    Feryal Saygılıgil, 


    Fırat Yücel,


    Filiz Gazi,
    Fırat Erdoğmuş, 
    Gizem Soysaldı, 
    Gökçe İnce, 
    Görkem Yeltan,
    Gözde Onaran,
    Gülengül Altıntaş,
    Güliz Sağlam, 


    Göktuğ Özgül, 
    Hakan Aytekin, 
    Hasan Özgen, 
    Hande Çayır, 
    Haşmet Topaloğlu,
    Hatice Kamer, 
    Hikmet Yaşar Yenigün,
    Hüseyin Kuzu,
    İnan Temelkuran,
    İlksen Başarır,
    İmre Azem, 
    İsmet Arasan,
    Janet Barış,
    Kazım Öz,
    Kemal Yılmaz, 
    Kemal Öner,
    Kemal Alptekin,
    Kibar Dağlayan Yiğit, 
    Koray Çalışkan, 
    Koray Kesik,
    Leyla Neyzi, 
    Lusin Dink, 
    Nihan Katipoğlu, 
    Nil Kural,
    Nil Perçinler, 
    Medet Dilek, 


    Mehmet Eryılmaz, 


    Mehtap Doğan,


    Melek Özman,


    Melek Ulagay


    Melih Saraçoğlu, 


    Melis Behlil, 


    Melis Birder, 


    Meryem Yavuz, 


    Mert Fırat,


    Metin Avdaç, 


    Murat Düzgünoğlu, 


    Mustafa Temiztaş, 


    Mustafa Emin Büyükçoşkun,


    Nadir Öperli, 


    Nagehan Uskan, 


    Necati Sönmez,


    Nergis Öztürk,


    Nesra Gürbüz, 


    Nezahat Gündoğan, 


    Nihat Kentel,


    Mustafa Ünlü, 
    Müge Yamanyılmaz, 
    Okan Arpaç, 


    Onur Saylak, 


    Orhan Eskiköy, 


    Orhan Güneşdoğmuş,


    Oylum Bülbül,


    Ömer Tuncer,


    Önder Çakar, 


    Övgü Gökçe, 
    Özge Özdüzen, 


    Özgür Doğan,


    Özge Akkoyunlu, 
    Özgür Seyben, 
    Özkan Küçük, 
    Özlem Yıldız,
    Pelin Turgut, 
    Reyan Tuvi, 
    Rakibe Karataş, 
    Rodi Yüzbaşı, 
    Sabite Kaya, 
    Savaş Güvezne,
    Selin Gürel, 
    Selen Uçer,
    Sema Bulutsuz, 
    Semih Dindar, 
    Semir Aslanyürek, 
    Senem Aytaç, 
    Senem Erdine, 
    Senem Tüzen, 
    Seray Genç, 
    Serdar Güven, 
    Serdar Kökçeoğlu, 
    Seren Yüce, 
    Serkan Acar, 
    Serkan Turhan, 
    Serra Ciliv, 
    Sevilay Demirci,
    Sevin Okyay, 


    Seyhan Kaya,
    Sezgin Türk,
    Sibel Tekin,
    Soner Alper, 
    Somnur Vardar,
    Şenay Aydemir, 


    Tahsin İşbilen,
    Tarık Tufan, 
    Tolga Esmer, 
    Tolga Karaçelik
    Tunca Arslan,
    Tül Akbal Süalp,
    Tülin Özen,
    Uğraş Salman, 
    Ümit Ünal
    Veysel İpek,
    Yamaç Okur,
    Yasin Ali Türkeri, 
    Yeşim Tabak, 


    Yücel Tunca,


    Zeynel Doğan,
    Zeynep Dadak, 


    Zeynep Güzel,
    Zeynep Merve Uygun,
    Zeynep Ünal

    Monday, February 13, 2012

    Taşranın Büyük Bilgesi-Mehmet Emin Ceylan


    Taşranın Büyük Bilgesi-Mehmet Emin Ceylan

    SOURCE:  moroccom 

    Aslında babam hakkında daha kapsamlı bir film yapmak istiyordum. Başlangıçta niyetim onun kimselere benzemeyen taraflarına eğilmekti. Ama galiba film, babamın özgün ve beni hayrete düşüren taraflarını değil de, daha çok tipik, herkeste var olabilecek bir özelliğini öne çıkardı. Yaşama gücünü birbiri ardına edindiği amaçlarla, bunlara ulaşmak için giriştiği sonu gelmez mücadeleler içinde bulan, tüm vaktini bu mücadeleyi lehine çevirecek stratejiler geliştirmekle harcayan, bu yüzden de biraz bencilleşmiş ve insanlara güvenini biraz yitirmiş bir karakter çıktı ortaya.[1]


    Nuri Bilge Ceylan’ın babasının vefat haberi daha yeni düştü bilgisayar ekranına. Oturduğum yerden kalkamadım. Sıcak çayımdan bir yudum aldım biraz sonra. Bir şeyler yazmak istedim bu bilge adamla ilgili. İlk kez oğlunun Kasaba filminde karşıma çıkan ve beni büyüleyen bakışların sahibi yaşlı bilge. Sarı çayırların ortasında uyuyakalan, akşamın alacasında ateşin başında torunlarına ve çocuklarına Birinci Dünya Savaşı günlerinden bahseden güzel insan.


    Birde bu kasabadan önce çekilen ama benim çok sonraları izlediğim yönetmenin ilk ve tek kısa filmi Koza’da, sevdiğinin gözlerine tam olarak bakamayan bir erkeği canlandırdığı rolü.


    "Koza" garip bir filmdi, senaryosu yoktu, aklımda birtakım fikirler vardı; ancak çekimi çok uzun sürdüğü için yolda sürekli değişiyordu bu fikirler. Eski Rus filmleri satın aldım çok ucuza ve çok ucuza eski bir kamera da buldum. Okuldan sonra bir kısa filmde çalışmıştım. Arkadaşım Mehmet Eryılmaz'ın çektiği bir kısa filmdi bu. Onda oyunculuk yaptım ama asıl amacım bütün aşamaları görmekti. Doğrusu bu filmde çalışmakla okulda öğrendiğimden çok daha fazla şey öğrendim; bu beni cesaretlendirdi. O filmin çekildiği eski kamerayı satın aldım Satın aldım çünkü çekimi çok uzun bir süreye yaymak istiyordum, ne yapacağım belli değildi, senaryo konusunda zorlanıyordum. Sanıyorum, bir seneyi geçti o 20 dakikalık kısa filmin çekimleri. Bütün boşluklarda, fotoğraf çekmeye gider gibi, Çanakkale'ye gittim. Annemi babamı oynattım; çünkü ekibin her zaman elimi uzattığımda orada bulabileceğim insanlar olması gerekiyordu. Sonunda "Koza" diye bir şey ortaya çıktı. Bu filmin bir kısmını tek başıma çektim ve tek kişilik farklı asistanlar bazen yardımcı oldu. Ama, yine de, çektiğim filmlere baktığımda en zorlandığım film "Koza" olmuştur; çünkü bir kere başladığınızda ve bir şey ortaya çıktığında artık cesaret kazanıyorsunuz. Düğüm çözülüyor.[2]


    Sonra ardından gelen Mayıs Sıkıntısı. Nuri Bilge Ceylan’ın bütün aile efradına saygı duruşunda bulunurken özellikle onu ön plana çıkarıyordu. Yazının başında alıntıladığım bu söyleşi de babasının kendisi için ne kadar önemli olduğunu da vurgulamaktaydı büyük yönetmen. O film bazı festivallerden özellikle oyuncu kadrosu ile ödüller de aldı. Yönetmenin anne ve babası ile kuzeni ve arkadaşından oluşan bu oyuncu kadrosu Cannes’dan ödülle dönen Uzak için de oyuncu tercihlerini değiştirmeyecekti.


    Mayıs Sıkıntısı bir yönetmenin film çekmek amacıyla ailesini hem ziyaret etmek hem de film çekmek için oyuncu bulmasını anlatıyordu. Bir nevi Kasaba’nın arka planını anlatarak aynı konu üzerinden tatlı bir güzellik sunuyordu izleyicilere.


    "Mayıs Sıkıntısı"; "Kasaba" filmini çekerken gözlemlediğim şeylerden ortaya çıktı. Bir de beni zaman zaman -gençliğimden beri- varoluş şekliyle hem şaşırtan hem hayran bırakan hem de güldüren ve kendine has bir adam olan babamı anlatma arzusuyla ortaya çıktı.[3]


    Filmin içerisinde yönetmenin babasının da apayrı bir öyküsü vardı. Ekip biçtiği her gün itinayla kilometrelerce bisiklet sürerek ulaştığı bahçesinin “kadastrocu”lar tarafından alınacağı için tedirgindi amcamız. Kimi zaman bahçesinde onları tedirgin bir şekilde beklerken kimi zaman da kasaba esnafı ile şaşkın bir şekilde sohbet ederken bu büyük koparılmayı yaşayacak olmanın garip hüznü vardı üzerinde.


    Sonra İklimler filmi. Yönetmen, burada Mehmet Emin Ceylan’ı kendisinin ve eşinin başrolünde olduğu akademisyen fotoğrafçının babası rolünde oynatıyordu. Mehmet Emin Ceylan, çok kısa da olsa başında şapkası ile karşımıza çıkıyor ve Kasaba ve Mayıs Sıkıntısı’nda büyülenen izleyiciyi yine mest ediyordu.


    Sonra hiçbir zaman karşıma çıkmadı Mehmet Emin Ceylan. Sadece Nuri Bilge Ceylan ve ablası Emine Ceylan’ın birlikte açtıkları “Babam İçin” sergisinde yaşamın büyük bir sürprizi karşıma çıkana dek. O fotoğrafları müze[4] yönetiminden istedim ve sağ olsunlar gönderdiler. Sonra bir CD nin içerisine toplanmış o fotoğrafları uzun uzun inceledim. Bir ırmağın kıyısında uzaklara bakarken, uzun yeşil çayırların üzerine yüzüstü uzanırken, evinin somyasında gelişigüzel uzanırken veya bir yağmurun ardında ıslak gözlerle tüm evreni süzerken. O fotoğraflardan aklımda kalan en önemli ayrıntı Mehmet Emin Ceylan’ın hüzünlü gözleriydi. O hüzünlü gözler ki beni sinema masalının içerisine çekti ve sonra o eşsiz girdabın içine sürükledi.


    Onu yine oğlu en iyi anlatmakta. Bu yazıyı da onun sözleriyle bitirmek en iyisi:

    Babam memurdu orada, ziraat mühendisiydi. O ilişkileri, hükümet konağındaki hiyerarşiyi çok iyi hatırlıyorum... O hep beni rahatsız etmiştir. Bir üst basamaktaki her zaman bir alttakini aşağılama hakkına sahiptir. Bir sahneyi hiç unutmuyorum. O zaman çok fakirlik vardı, memurlar da daha zengin değildi halktan; hepimiz yamalı pantalonlarla gezerdik, çoraplar yamanırdı, ayakkabılara pençe yaptırılırdı, kesinlikle birden fazla ayakkabımız olmazdı. Daha ucuz olsun diye babam bir traş makinesi almıştı, bizi o traş etmeye başlamıştı... Alabros diye bir traş vardı, arkada saç olmaz, önde birazcık olur, ama o geçişin çok hassas bir şekilde yapılması gerekirdi... Yapılamadığı zaman sert bir geçiş olurdu... Bir gün hâkimle savcı, tam arkadaşlarımla oynarken geldiler. Babamla aralarında her zaman bir iktidar ilişkisi vardı, bir astlık üstlük sorunu yoktu ama, birbirlerini aşağılamak için fırsat kollarlardı. "Oğlum, kim traş etti seni?" dedi hâkim. "Babaam" dedim ben oyunu bırakıp. Birbirlerine baktılar, şöyle bir kafa salladılar. (Gülüyor) Ben bunun önemli bir şey olduğunu anlamadım tabii. Sonra babama anlattım, ama öylesine anlatmıştım, büyük bir olay gibi değil. Birden bunun annemle babam arasında bayağı bir olay olduğunu hissettim. Böyle "vay, eşşğoğlueşekler" falan diye... Bayağı bir sinir olmuşlardı. Bütün memurlar arasında böyle bir mücadele vardır. O yüzden aklımda hep öyle bir karakter vardı, hâkim, kaymakam falan gibi. Bunların sadece arkalarından küfredilirdi, yüzlerine karşı hep "efendim" denirdi.[5]


    Mekanın cennet olsun Taşranın Büyük Bilgesi.



    [1] Esra Aliçavuşoğlu, Nuri Bilge Ceylan ile Söyleşi, Cumhuriyet Gazetesi, 2 Aralık 1999


    [2] Burçin S.Yalçın, Nuri Bilge Ceylan ile Söyleşi, Popüler Sinema Dergisi, Aralık 1999


    [3] Burçin S.Yalçın, Nuri Bilge Ceylan ile Söyleşi, Popüler Sinema Dergisi, Aralık 1999


    [4] Milli Reasürans Sanat Galerisi


    [5] Yücel Göktürk - Sungu Çapan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan ile Söyleşi, Ocak 2000