Milk | Sut by Semih Kaplanoglu

Specifications
Colour / Black and white : Color
Lengh : 100 mn
Locations and shooting dates : Central Anatolia - 10 weeks - 35 mm
Shooting language : TURKISH
Working budget : 890 000 €
Acquired financing : 433 000 €

Statement
Turkey's rural areas have been undergoing huge social, economic, and cultural changes over the past few years. A new way of life has awakened in those towns and villages that used to rely solely on agricultural pursuits. This new way of life has not only changed the area economically, but has also forced change in traditional mores. I implanted these changes in the heart of our young poet, Yusuf, and in the heart of his mother, a woman who yearns for a new way of life. As each character assumes their place in the events that are being lived out, the conflicts that Yusuf faces in the turmoil wrought by the clash of the traditional and the new are also being experienced by countless young people in Turkey. The needs and desires of traditional rural women have always remained suppressed under the over-looming shadows of their fathers, husbands, sons and families.
In MILK, and in the Yusuf Trilogy in general, I want to focus on the centre of the painful change that is currently being played out within the mother-son relationship in Turkey.

Synopsis: Yusuf (18-20) is disconcerted when he learns that his mother Fatma (38-40) has a secret affair with the town's railroad stationmaster. Should he behave in accordance with the traditional male-dominated culture and traditions of the town or should he develop a new perspective in accordance with the new modernization process that is on-going in the area?

Yusuf and Fatma struggle to make a living of the milk they get from the cows. Their town is in the midst of rapid industrialization and this is quickly putting an end to traditional production methods and some of the trades traditional to the area. When she falls in love with the town's stationmaster, Fatma's femininity is rekindled and she begins to change. Yusuf discovers that his mother's interest has turned to another man, but when he receives his draft notice, he suddenly goes off to the large city to take the Army's physical examination. His mother's relationship, which he has tried to ignore up to now, and the pain at being considered unfit for military duty, force Yusuf, who comes from a male-dominated culture, to make some serious decisions.

Contacts: Production: KAPLAN FILM PRODUCTION - Sureyya Agaoglu Sk. n.417 - Tesvikiye Istanbul - TURQUIE - T : 90 212 291 29 95 - info@kaplanfilm.com - www.kaplanfilm.com

Biography and Filmography: Kaplan Film Production was founded by Director and writer Semih Kaplanoglu in 2002. In 2003 the firm started to work on the film Angel's Fall. Angel's Fall, after having its World Premiere at the 55th Berlinale, was invited to many prestigious festivals like Edinburgh, Moscow, Pusan, Vienna, Warsaw, Thessaloniki and Nantes. In 2006. Kaplan Film started the production of a trilogy in which the films will be called Milk - Egg - Honey.

The shooting of Egg was completed in November 2006. It was selected for the Cinemart Co-production Market and Paris Project, where meetings were held with international professionals. Egg has the support of Eurimages and the Turkish Ministry of Culture. Egg is a Turkish-Greek co-production Milk the second part of the trilogy, received production support from the World Cinema Fund of Berlinale. During the 47th Thessaloniki Festival, Milk was invited to the Crossroads Co-production Market. Milk was also invited to the Berlinale Co-production market in the World Cinema section. Kaplan Film Production is also working on the film Steppe Winds. Currently in development, the film already has the support of the Hubert Bals Fund and the Turkish Ministry of Culture.