Golden Orange 2009 | Bornova Bornova

BORNOVA BORNOVA


İNAN TEMELKURAN

İnan Temelkuran Director/Script/Producer

Yıldıray İnan Executive Producer
Enrique Santiago Silguero Director of Photography
Erkan Tekemen Editor

CAST

Salih: Kadir Çermik
Hakan: Öner Erkan
Özlem: Damla Sönmez
Murat:Erkan Bektaş
Ali: Onur Öner Ateş
İhsan: Murat Kılıç
Senem: Selen Uçer
Ömer: Hasan Sahintürk
İbo: Mustafa Kırantepe



The movie takes place in a time when dreams are reduced to almost nothing and when it’s difficult to remain sane. Ordinary life becomes a one greater expectation.

Salih and Hakan who spend their entire days in front of the grocery shop thinking we were given the chance. Salih is like a older brother to Hakan. Hakan has just came back from the mandatory military service. His football career ended before even it had started because of an injury. He is without a job or a vocation He hopes to be to be a taxi driver. Salih is the psycopath of the neigborhood. He’s the only person who listens to Hakan and gives him advices. Although Salih has grown up in a well meaning educated family he’s involved in every kind of illegal business in the neighborhood. Everbody is scared of him. High school girl Özlem included. Hakan is crazy about her but he never had the the courage to talk to her.

Murat who is Salih’s childhood friend and a Ph-d student in philosophy makes a living writing erotic fantasies. He tells Hakan about an erotic fantasy that he wrote based on an event occured between Salih and Özlem. Hakan dissapointed and confused heads toward Özlem’s house to learn about the whole thing. Özlem was very scared when she sees Hakan.

İnan Temelkuran

Born in Izmir, Turkey in 1976, İnan Temelkuran graduated from Bornova Anatolian High School in 1994. After earning a law degree from Ankara University in 1998 he won a scholarship from the Spanish government to research Spain’s Franco era through the film industry. He started film school at TAI Superior School of Visual Arts in 2000, where he earned a degree as a Film Director in 2003. With his 2004 short documentary about a Turkish wedding in Madrid, he won the Best Short Documentary Award in the Young Art Festival. Returning to Turkey in 2005, he got a master of arts degree from Marmara University, Fine Arts School, Cinema TV department in 2008.

He completed his first feature movie “Made in Europe” in 2007 after nearly four years of filming in four countries. With “Made in Europe” he won the Best Director and the Grand Jury Yılmaz Güney Special Prize ($100,000) in the 2008 Adana Golden Boll Film Festival. The movie’s 18 male actors shared the festival’s Best Actor award. In the same year, he won Most Promising Director in the Ankara Film Festival. In the beginning of 2009 he was selected as Most Promising Artist by SIYAD, Turkey’s film critic’s association.

He completed his second feature “Bornova, Bornova” in May 2009, which premiered in the 2009 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.

IFF Rotterdam | Black Dogs Barking

IFFR 2009 | Signals: Young Turkish Cinema 2009



A dynamic shooting-style, pitch-perfect written street lingo and a transfixing dog-eat-dog story form the essence of this exciting first feature about two friends who get into deep trouble in Istanbul’s chaotic underground scene. At times funny, at times tragic, but foremostly, jolting in its authenticity.

Restless and young, best buddies Selim and Çaça live a meagre existence on the outskirts of Istanbul. Their neighbourhood's view of the city's gigantic business towers accelerates their ambitions. By day they grow pigeons on the roof, by night they drive their pimped-up car, 'My Orange Angel', and roam the mean streets with their entourage. The two buddies want to open up their own parking-lot business near a gigantic mall, and they just might get lucky, since they’re supported by the local mafia boss. But everyone wants a slice of the cake and the mall’s dodgy security contractor, Sait, is not so willing to let his 'turf' slide to these up-and-coming lads. Plus, the cops are on the boys’ tail to gather evidence against the mafia’s now 'legalized' activities. It isn’t long before Selim and Çaça’s dreams will be shattered when they find themselves in water over their heads. This sizzling début feature from Mehmet Bahadir Er and Maryna Gorbach, shot in a verité style, captures a verisimilitude representative of the many unemployed young Turkish men who just want to make a better life for themselves. Submerged in poverty and the prevailing macho culture, it is no surprise that they become victims of violence. Bustling with energy with its in-yer-face attitude, Black Dogs Barking proudly takes over On Board's (1988) legacy of the working class anti-heroes. (EY)

Director Mehmet Bahadir Er
Maryna Gorbach
Producer Mehmet Bahadir Er
Sales Kara Kirmizi Film
Print source Kara Kirmizi Film
Scenario Mehmet Bahadir Er
Cast Cemal Toktas
Volga Sorgu Tekinoglu
Erkan Can
Ayfer Dönmez
Taylan Ertugrul
Ergun Kuyucu
Mehmet Usta
Muhammed Cangören
Murat Daltaban
Photography Sviatoslav Bulakovskyi
Editor Maryna Gorbach, Mehmet Bahadir Er
Art design Serdar Yilmaz
Length 88'

Mehmet Bahadir Er

Mehmet Bahadir ER (1982, Turkey) is student at the film school in Istanbul. The Earthquake (2005), one of his short films, won an award for Best Short at the Istanbul Independent Film Festival. Black Dogs Barking (2008) is his first feature.
Goygoy (2004, short), Zilzal/The Earthquake (2005, short)[1], Umut/Hope (2006, short), Araf/The Heights (2007, short), Kara köpekler havlarken/Black Dogs Barking (2009, co-dir)

Maryna Gorbach

Maryna GORBACH (1981, Ukraine) graduated from Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and TV in 2006. Her first short film The Jar (2004) won awards at different international festivals. The Debt (2006) was her graduation film. Black Dogs Barking (2008) is her first feature. The Jar (2004, short), The Debt (2006, short), Kara köpekler havlarken/Black Dogs Barking (2009, co-dir)


[1] IFFR 07 | The Earthquake pays homage to the 15,000 victims at least killed by a major earthquake that took place in 1999 in north-western Turkey. A girl is trapped in a collapsed house. She finds her video camera.
Director/Producer/Screenplay: Mehmet Bahadir Er
Cast Diba Ener, Gülsen Er
Photography Diba Ener, Mehmet Bahadir Er
Editor Mehmet Bahadir Er
Length 14'

'Min Dit' makes waves at Antalya film fest

Source: Hurriyet Daily News The Golden Orange Film Festival sparked controversy Thursday with its screening of “Min Dit” (The Children of Diyarbakır), the first Kurdish-language movie to be part of the national competition in Antalya. The debut feature film by Miraz Bezar, a filmmaker of Kurdish origin who was born in Ankara and moved to Germany when he was six years old, drew a large audience. “Min Dit” had previously been screened at international film festivals abroad, winning the Gaztea Youth Award at the 57th San Sebastian International Film Festival held in Spain last month. Set in the 1990s in the eastern part of Turkey, the movie tells the story of 10-year-old Gülistan (Şenay Orak) and her younger brother Fırat (Muhammed Al), whose lives take a tragic turn on the road that connects the cities of Diyarbakır and Batman. After witnessing their parents’ death at the hands of a secret service paramilitary officer on the way home from a wedding, the siblings try to stay alive, first selling the family furniture, and later living in the streets when they can no long afford to pay the rent. Because Bezar grew up in Germany, all he knew about the Kurdish issue and the situation in eastern Turkey was what he saw on TV and read in the newspapers. “I wanted to go to Diyarbakır after I completed my degree at the Berlin Film Academy and experience the situation myself,” he said. There, he found that each person in the city had his or her own stories to tell. Once he decided to write the script for “Min Dit” he went back to Germany to develop the scenario. Bezar wrote all the dialogue in Turkish and had most of it translated into Kurdish for the film, which was co-produced by producer Klaus Maeck and well-known director Fatih Akın, who got involved after Bezar showed him the rough cut. According to Bezar, choosing the cast was not difficult. He watched one of his lead actors, Hakan Karsak, on a theater stage in Diyarbakır and was taken by his passion and talent. The casting of the children in the film also happened quickly: Bezar was lucky to meet Orak and Al on a bus after being invited on the trip by a group of children who were traveling to Urfa. The third leading child’s role was given to Suzan İlir. “She was trying to sell me a bottle of water in one of the cemeteries in Diyarbakır,” Bezar said. “She at first did not want to tell me her name, but I finally convinced her that I was going to shoot a film. I went to meet her parents and that’s how she joined the crew.” The first-time director was not expecting his film to compete at Antalya’s Golden Orange Film Festival. He looked proud to be competing with the films of successful directors. “No matter what, I finally did what I wanted to do,” he said. To help him shoot the film, Bezar’s mother sold her house and his uncle paid the team’s hotel expenses. The project kicked off with a budget of just 80,000 euros. “There are still team members who have not gotten paid,” Bezar said. “Some of them did it to support the film.” Making the movie was also a new experience for its child stars. Orak, the 10-year-old girl who plays the leading role, had never acted professionally before, but turned in a superb performance. “My only acting experience was the theater classes I attended in at the culture center in Diyarbakır,” she said. The mother in the film is played by Fahriye Çelik and the character of the father, a Kurdish journalist, by Alişan Önlü. A newborn baby also features in the movie. The children’s aunt Yekbun, played by Berivan Eminoğlu, is an underground Kurdish activist. After the death of their parents, she tries to get a visa to take the siblings to their grandfather in Sweden, but she is kidnapped by the paramilitary police, leaving the children completely alone. While digging in the garbage to find something to fill their stomachs with, Gülistan and Fırat meet an experienced street kid named Zelal, played by İlir, who teaches them the basics of survival. Gülistan also earns some money from Dilara, played by Berivan Ayaz, a prostitute who uses her as a cover but genuinely cares about the young girl. When Fırat sees one of the men who killed his parents, Nuri (Hakan Karsak), the boy is paralyzed by fear. In the days that follow, the paths of the two children, along with those of Dilara and Nuri, intersect in ways that have surprising impact due to the unexpected restraint with which they’re played. In the film, Bezar manages to keep his child characters as real as possible without turning them into mere sympathy magnets. He also succeeds in displaying the various sides of the city. “Some in the audience ask if children face these situations in real life,” Bezar said. “With some exceptions, all live under such circumstances; they grow up in an atmosphere of peak violence.” Some audience members at the festival, mostly Antalya locals, called the film one-sided, shouting in protest, “There has never been a Kurdish state and there will never be one.” In the face of such critics, Bezar kept his cool and said that he is there to talk about these issues. “Cinema is a form of art,” he said. “People do not have to agree with or believe in what they saw.” One of the actors in the film, Diyarbakır native Alişan Önlü, added: “We, as a nation, try to understand the children in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Palestine, but we never consider the situation of the children living in this conflicted city. Now it is time to look at life from the perspective of a southeastern child.”

11’e 10 kala / 10 to 11 by Pelin Esmer

10 to 11 movie trailer


This is the story of a passionate collector, Mithat, and the concierge of his building, Ali. For Mithat, Istanbul is as vast as his collections, while for Ali, who comes from a country village, it is nothing more than a few blocks around him. When the neighbours decide to have the building rebuilt for fear of earthquakes and the desire for a more valuable house, Mithat's most challenging struggle to save his collections begins. The building becomes the common destiny of these two men living alone, who will involuntarily change each other's fate.


Pelin Esmer
Istanbul, 1972. Her first work as a director, Koleksiyoncu (The Collector, 2002), won the Best Documentary Award at Rome Independent Film Festival. Her next work, Oyun (The Play, 2005), was premiered in Zabaltegi-New Directors at San Sebastian Festival and bagged the Best New Documentary Director Award at Tribeca Festival. 11’e 10 kala, her first fiction feature, won the Special Jury Prize at Istanbul Festival in 2009. She founded her own company, Sinefilm, in 2005.

Kosmos by Reha Erdem

KOSMOS-Reha Erdem
Kosmos by Reha Erdem
trailer

Kurdish Cinema

Kurdish Cinema part 1



Kurdish Cinema part 2

Hamburg Award for Min Dit

The young talents award Die Elfe (lit: the elf) is donated by Neue Sentimental Film Hamburg GmbH (NSF), and is endowed with 5,000 euros. The prize goes to “Before my Eyes” (WT) or “Min Dit – The Children Of Diyarbakir” by the German-Kurdish director Miraz Bezar, who previously won the “Gaztea Youth Award” in San Sebastian. The winner was decided on by a jury of three, consisting of Sigrid Berenberg, first Chairwoman of Kultwerk West, actress Imogen Kogge and director Kai Wessel. The jury’s verdict on the first film from Turkey to be shot in the Kurdish language praises the director “Bezar, who tears open this story, in all its colourfulness, bleakness, horror, but also full of humour and vitality, with grandiose encounters and coincidences that gently jostle the story along,” and valued the film as being “astounding and absolutely electrifying”.

Director: Miraz Bezar

Screenplay: Miraz Bezar

Cast: Senay Orak, Muhammet Al, Hakan Karsak, Berîvan Ayaz

Producer: Miraz Bezar, Klaus Maeck, Fatih Akin

Orig. Titel: Min Dit
Section: Agenda 09
Original language: Kurdish/Turkish
Filmtype: Fiction Feature
Music: Mustafa Mesrop Biber
DoP: Isabelle Casez
Set Designer: Pinar Soydinç
Editor: Miraz Bezar
Format: 35 mm

World Sales: The Match Factory GmbH, Balthasarstrasse 79-81, 50670 Köln, Germany, Tel: +49 221 539 709-0, Fax: +49 221 539 70910, email: info@matchfactory.de, www.the-match-factory.com
Production Company: Bezar Film & Corazón International corazón international GmbH & Co KG Ditmar-Koel-Str. 26 20459 Hamburg

Miraz Bezar

Miraz Bezar, born in 1971,Ankara, Turkey writer and director of various award winning short films.“Before My Eyes/Children of Diyarbekir” is his feature film debut. Filmography 2009 Before my Eyes 1997 Fern 1995 Berivan

The Children of Diyarbakir / Min dit

MIN DIT has been awarded with the "Gaztea Youth Award" of the San Sebastian Filmfestival

Reviewed at San Sebastian
The Children of Diyarbakir / Min dit (Germany/Turkey)
By JAY WEISSBERG


A Bezar Film, Corazon Intl. production. (International sales: the Match Factory, Cologne.) Produced by Miraz Bezar. Co-producers, Klaus Maeck, Fatih Akin. Directed, written, edited by Miraz Bezar.

With: Senay Orak, Muhammed Al, Hakan Karsak, Suzan Ilir, Berivan Ayaz, Fahriye Celik, Alisan Onlu, Berivan Eminoglu, Mehmet Inci, Cekdar Korkusuz, Recep Ozer.
(Kurdish, Turkish dialogue)

An extraordinary performance by a 10-year-old girl anchors "The Children of Diyarbakir," the debut feature of Miraz Bezar. Set in the predominantly Kurdish city of Diyarbakir, Turkey, the pic takes a straightforward, non-sensationalized approach to the tragic story of a brother and sister orphaned when their parents are assassinated by a secret-services paramilitary officer. Though it shows its first-feature origins, the film has moments, especially toward the end, that so transcend the material as to make the journey doubly worthwhile. A healthy fest life is assured, while Euro arthouse play isn't out of the question.

Though less inspired, the early scenes do the necessary work of introducing characters and establishing a mood: Gulistan (Senay Orak) and her younger brother, Firat (Muhammed Al), have a normal childhood with their mom (Fahriye Celik) and dad (Alisan Onlu) and new baby brother. Dad is a Kurdish journalist; on their way back from a wedding, the family is stopped by three gunmen, who shoot the parents dead in front of the kids. The brief scene is all the more powerful because Bezar downplays any excess in either the lensing or editing.

The kids' aunt Yekbun (Berivan Eminoglu), an underground Kurdish activist, moves in to care for them, but as she tries to get a visa to take them to their grandpa in Sweden, she's kidnapped by the paramilitary police and the children are left completely alone. As the weeks pass, they start selling everything in the apartment just to have food to eat, but it's not enough for medicine for the baby.

Kicked out of their home, Gulistan and Firat meet worldly-wise street kid Zelal (Suzan Ilir), who teaches them the basics of survival. Gulistan is also befriended by Dilara (Berivan Ayaz), a prostitute who uses her as a cover but genuinely cares about the young girl. When Firat sees one of their parents' killers, Nuri (Hakan Karsak), the boy is paralyzed by fear; in the days that follow, the paths of the two children, along with those of Dilara and Nuri, will all intersect in ways that have surprising impact due to the unexpected restraint with which they're played.

It's precisely Bezar's ability to hold back that allows this street-orphan tale to rise above the usual treatment of the subject. Bezar (born in Turkey, raised in Germany) keeps the kids as real as possible without turning them into merely cute sympathy magnets; he also reveals a city in all its multiple facets, from dying neighborhoods to leafy residential sections where the privileged live, unmoved by or apathetic toward Kurdish repression.

The cast of mostly unknowns can be uneven, but Orak is haunting as 10-year-old Gulistan. With large brown eyes taking in everything around her, this young nonpro is astonishingly real as she searches for ways to get herself and her brother through each day.

Fatih Akin boarded as co-producer through his production house, Corazon Intl., after Bezar showed him a rough cut. Tech credits reflect the modest budget, and the transfer from HD can't disguise a certain flatness in lighting, but the overall look is more than acceptable. Presumably, the final rap song was chosen for its message and thus requires subtitling.

Camera (color, widescreen, HD-to-35mm), Isabelle Casez; music, Mustafa Biber; production designer, Pinar Soydinc; costume designer, Ozlem Batur; sound (Dolby Digital), Garip Ozden, Daniel Weis; associate producers, Saliha Kutlay, Flaminio Zadra. Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (Zabaltegi New Directors), Sept. 22, 2009. Running time: 101 MIN.

National Competition Films of Golden Orange 2009

National Competition Films of Golden Orange 2009 selected among 43 submissions will be judged by a jury presided by Erden Kıral with members İzzet Günay, Mustafa Altıoklar, Mustafa Ziya Ülkenciler, Nurgül Yeşilçay, Ömür Gedik, Sırrı Süreyya Önder, Yavuz Bingöl and Zeynep Oral

Kutluğ Ataman ‘Aya Seyahat’
Zeki Demirkubuz’ ‘Kıskanmak’
Reha Erdem ‘Kosmos’
Onur Ünlü ‘Beş Şehir’
İnan Temelkuran ‘Bornova Bornova’
Murat Saraçoğlu ‘Deli Deli Olma’
Ümit Ünal ‘Gölgesizler’
Yavuz Özkan ‘İlkbahar Sonbahar’
Emre Şahin’ ‘40’ *
Meriç Demiray ‘Babam Büfe’ *
İlksen Başarır ‘Başka Dilde Aşk’ *
Miraz Bezar ‘Min Dit’ *
Bahadır Karataş ‘Usta’ *
Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’ ‘Uzak İhtimal’ *
Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan ‘İki Dil Bir Bavul’ *
Mehmet Bahadır Er and Maryna Gorbach ‘Kara Köpekler Havlarken’ *
( *) First Film

Not only the festival rehashed an old theme by using an eye for the poster (boring and totally unredable), the website is still under construction on the day of the announcements.

53. BFI London Film Festival |My Only Sunshine by Reha Erdem

My Only Sunshine

My Only Sunshine

Reha Erdem follows the celebrated Times and Winds with a poetic, bold and rewarding feature, daring in both form and content.

Hayat (Elit Işcan) is a troubled 14-year-old who seems to choose to hum constantly rather than say very much at all. Her father (Erdal Beşikçioğli) is a pimp and smuggler, catering for the large cargo ships on the Istanbul waterways. Her short-tempered grandfather (Levend Yilmaz) is ill and dying, unable to leave the bed that has been set up in the living room of the riverside shack they inhabit. Her mother (Banu Fotocan) has a new family and wants little to do with her. She's bullied at school, seems to be surrounded by sexual predators, eats chocolate whenever she can get her hands on it, and takes her frustration out on the Turkey that gets in her way. Hayat is clearly not a happy child, on the verge of becoming a woman, yet somehow, through her enduring spirit, she deals with the harsh injustices she has to face. Reha Erdem follows the celebrated Times and Winds with a poetic, bold and rewarding feature, daring in both form and content. In telling Hayat's tale, the plot itself is barely hinted at and open to interpretation, while technically, it's incredibly seductive, stunningly shot on and around the Bosphorus straits, with a striking use of sound.

Michael Hayden

Director

Reha Erdem

Cast

Elit Işcan, Erdal Beşikçioğli, Levend Yilmaz

Country

Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria

Writer

Reha Erdem

Running time

121min

Year

2009

53. BFI London Film Festival | Men on the Bridge by Asli Özge

Men on the Bridge

Men on the Bridge

A prize-winning portrait of life in the rapidly changing sprawl of today's Istanbul, offering resonant and affecting insights in a pacy, punchy, multi-strand narrative.

The titular bridge is the splendid but often gridlocked Bosphorus Bridge that spans the divide between Europe and Asia; the men, three young inhabitants of the Istanbul suburbs who use it daily. Umut crosses it repeatedly in his taxi, hoping the work will buy the kind of smart apartment his wife Cemile wants. Traffic cop Murat, meanwhile, would just like a wife or a girlfriend; originally from eastern Turkey, he finds the city a lonely place. Finally, there's Fikret, who'd be satisfied with a job; reduced to illegally selling roses on the bridge, he barely sees the city's fashionable centre except when he's seeking work in the shops there. Though firmly rooted in specific experiences – it was originally planned as a documentary on this trio whose paths occasionally cross – Özge's wonderfully fresh, insightful portrait of life in today's Istanbul is equally relevant to London or any rapidly changing metropolis in its reflections on how economics, family, the media, sex, race, tradition and globalisation affect our lives. The performances – all by non-professionals – are excellent, the various threads of the pacy narrative deftly interwoven, and the whole film handles a range of pressing issues with the lightest of touches. A very deserving winner of the Golden Tulip at this year's Istanbul Film Festival.

Geoff Andrew

Director

Asli Özge

Cast

Fikret Portakal, Murat Tokgöz, Umut Ilker

Country

Germany, Turkey, Netherlands

Writer

Asli Özge

Running time

87min

Year

2009

53. BFI London Film Festival | Journey to the Moon by Kutlug Ataman

Journey to the Moon

Turkish villagers' quest to fly to the moon in the 1950s becomes an engaging study of contemporary Turkish culture.

Journey to the Moon, the new project from internationally renowned Turkish artist and filmmaker Kutlug Ataman, forms part of a series of works known as The Mesopotamian Dramaturgies, and was first exhibited in installation form in Linz earlier this year. Shown here in its single- screen version, the film takes a different approach from his narrative features, Serpent's Tail, Lola + Bilidikid, and 2 Girls. Set in a remote village in the Erizincan province in Eastern Turkey, it's the tale of four villagers' quest to travel to the moon during a period in the late 1950s when Turkey's villages were being encouraged to modernise. It is told through the use of found black-and-white photographs from the period, and the aid of a local narrator. Intercut with this, a wide range of established Turkish intellectuals offer their views and interpretations of the events. In Ataman's singular hands the assemblage of the images is evocative and often funny, and what the narrator lacks in first-hand experience, he makes up for in enthusiasm. Unsurprisingly to those familiar with any of Ataman's earlier work, this is no straightforward historical drama; rather in its retelling, the story becomes an engaging study of contemporary Turkish culture.

Sandra Hebron

Director:Kutlug Ataman; Cast:Metin Alagas, Gozde Aran, Kemal Okumus; Country:
Turkey; Writer: Kutlug Ataman; Running time: 79min; Year 2009

Review | Soul Kitchen

Venice
Soul Kitchen (Germany)
By DEREK ELLEY

A Pandora Film release of a Corazon Intl. production, in association with Pyramide Prods., NDR, Dorje Film. (International sales: the Match Factory, Cologne.) Produced by Klaus Maeck, Fatih Akin. Co-producers, Fabienne Vonier, Alberto Fanni, Flaminio Zadra, Paolo Colombo. Directed by Fatih Akin. Screenplay, Akin, Adam Bousdoukos.

With: Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, Birol Unel, Anna Bederke, Pheline Roggan, Lucas Gregorowicz, Dorka Gryllus, Wotan Wilke Moehring, Demir Gokgol, Monica Bleibtreu, Udo Kier, Marc Hosemann, Cem Akin, Catrin Striebeck, Jan Fedder, Julia Wachsmann, Markus Imboden, Gudrun Egner, Gustav Peter Woehler, Ugur Yucel.

Returning to his native Hamburg, Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin rediscovers the verve of his early "Short Sharp Shock," tempered by a mature warmth, in "Soul Kitchen." Nicely cast ensembler, centered on a hopelessly disorganized eatery owner and peopled by a weird collection of lovable eccentrics, is pacey entertainment that hardly puts a foot wrong. This is not the fest-laureled Akin of weighty fare like "Head-On" and "The Edge of Heaven" -- more the one of "Solino" with a grungy, down-to-earth Hamburg edge. Offshore sales, at least in Europe, look to be lively.

Clearly made as a change of pace after "Heaven," the pic is labeled by Akin "an audacious, dirty Heimat film." But for him, a Heimat film isn't Bavarian blondes in dirndls; this is northern, grungy, multikulti Germany, with Greeks, Turks, rock bands and drifters.

Zinos Kazantsakis (Greek-German thesp Adam Bousdoukos) owns and caters a warehouse restaurant in the Hamburg nabe of Wilhelmsburg, where the working-class clientele like deep-fried schnitzels and burgers with their beer. Always running behind the eight-ball, Zinos even arrives late for the farewell dinner of his better-off g.f., Nadine (Pheline Roggan), who's leaving for a job in Shanghai.

When Zinos' larcenous younger brother, Illias (Moritz Bleibtreu), is let out of jail on day release, he asks Zinos to give him a fake job so he can get out more often. Zinos also has the idea of hiring a professional chef, the temperamental Shayn (Birol Unel), whose nouvelle cuisine alienates his regulars but eventually becomes a hit with the in-crowd.

With a tax inspector (Catrin Striebeck) and health officer (Jan Fedder) on his back, Nadine nagging him long-distance to join her, and a real estate shark (Wotan Wilke Moehring) trying to force him to sell the place, Zinos signs power of attorney over to the unreliable Illias and decides to set off to China. But he doesn't get further than the airport.

Incident-packed script manages to juggle a large number of characters and cameos without leaving any of them feeling underdeveloped. As the pieces fall into place in the final reels, there's a nice sense of community among the group of dreamers, losers and getting-byers, a feeling of how "home" is where you're most comfortable rather than a specific country, culture or place.

Bousdoukos, who co-wrote the script with Akin and was in the helmer's "Short Sharp Shock," has a slightly goofy, dumbkopf appeal that's just right for Zinos, and he teams well with Bleibtreu as his younger brother. Moehring and Unel are fine as the property trader and prima donna chef, respectively, but the real discovery is Hamburg-born Anna Bederke as Lucia, Zinos' hard-drinking waitress, who, in a beautifully played sequence, falls hard for Illias. As Zinos' physical therapist, Anna, Hungarian thesp Dorka Gryllus ("Irina Palm") is also aces in a key but gentler role.

Though several sequences feature cuisine, "Soul Kitchen" is not a foodie film a la "Mostly Martha." Music, just as much as food, is the way into the souls of these characters, but the rough-edged city of Hamburg -- always there in the background -- is what brings them together. Pic is as much a love letter to the place as to its people.

Technical package is deliberately on the grungy side but blooms when necessary under the camera of Akin regular Rainer Klausmann. Tight editing by Andrew Bird brings the pic in at a flab-free 98 minutes, and end titles are especially inventive.

The film is dedicated to Akin's brother, Cem, who plays one of Illias' buddies. It also features one of the last performances of Bleibtreu's mother, Monica (who died in May), in a comically explosive cameo as Nadine's grandma.

Camera (color), Rainer Klausmann; editor, Andrew Bird; music supervisors, Klaus Maeck, Pia Hoffmann; production designer, Tamo Kunz; costume designer, Katrin Aschendorf; sound (Dolby Digital), Kai Luede, Richard Borowski; sound designer, Andreas Hildebrandt; casting, Monique Akin. Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (competing), Sept. 10, 2009. (Also in Toronto Film Festival -- Special Presentations.) Running time: 98 MIN.

Montreal 2009 | A STEP INTO THE DARKNESS by Atil Inaç

A STEP INTO THE DARKNESS| BUYUK OYUN Turkey 2009 / Colour / 110 min PRODUCTION TEAM
Production company : Ayfer Ozgurel, Avni Ozgurel, TFT Film Yapim, Yildiz Cad. Tevfik Pasa Konagi No. 49, D.2, Besiktas, 3

Director : Atil Inaç Script : Avni Ozgurel, Atil Inaç
Photography : Editor : Aziz Imamoglu
Cast : Suzan Genc, Selen Ucer, Haktan Pak, Ranna Cabbar, Serdal Genc, Nalan Korucim

Cennet, a young Turkmen girl, who is the only survivor of a raid on her village in northern Iraq, sets out for Kirkuk in search of her older brother. There she learns that he was wounded by a bomb and taken to Turkey for treatment. Desperate to track him down, Cennet sets off on an arduous journey. When one of the smugglers who had agreed to help her across the mountains rapes her, she tries to kill herself. This time, she is rescued by the members of a radical Islamist organization who help her reach Istanbul, but she soon finds herself in the clutches of a charismatic religious figure who views her as an expendable instrument for his own violent agenda.
Atil Inaç

Turkish director Atil Inaç studied philosophy at Bogazici University in Turkey and at the University of Missouri and Claremont Graduate University in California, where he began his career working for the DFH ethnic television network in Los Angeles. Returning home in 2003, he continued working in TV, writing scripts for and directing series and sitcoms. He made his first feature, ZINCIRBOZAN, in 2007.

The World Film Festival 2009 | A Showcase for Five Turkish Films

The World Film Festival

August 27 to September 7, 2009

The goal of the Montreal World Film Festival (Montreal International Film Festival) is to encourage cultural diversity and understanding among nations, to foster the cinema of all continents by stimulating the development of quality cinema, to promote filmmakers and innovative works, to discover and encourage new talents, and to promote meetings between cinema professionals from around the world.

The World Film Festival - Montreal 2009 included the following sections:

* World Competition
* First Films World Competition
* Hors Concours (World Greats, out-of competition)
* Focus on World Cinema (Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania)
* Documentaries of the World
* Tributes
* Cinema Under the Stars
* Canadian Student Film Festival
Focus on World Cinema

BUYUK OYUN, 2009 / Colour / 110 min, Dir. Atil Inaç, Turkey.

GOLGESIZLER, 2009 / Colour / 97 min, Dir. Umit Unal, Turkey.

KARANLIKTAKILER, 2009 / Colour / 100 min, Dir. Çagan Irmak, Turkey.

SICAK, 2008 / Colour / 116 min, Dir. Abdullah Oguz, Turkey.


USTA, 2009 / Colour / 113 min, Dir. Bahadir Karatas, Turkey - Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Rhode Island IFF Grand Prix to Çağan Irmak

The Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) discovers and empowers filmmakers. Held in Providence, and locations throughout the state of Rhode Island. The 2009 Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) announced the winners in this year’s film competition at its annual Awards Ceremony held at the Providence Biltmore Hotel and the Best Feature Grand Prix went to ISSIZ ADAM (ALONE), Directed by Cagan Irmak (2008, Turkey).

ISSIZ ADAM (ALONE), (2008, Turkey).113 minutes
CAST:CEMAL HUNAL, MELIS BIRKAN, YILDIZ KULTUR, SERIF BOZKURT, GOZDE KANSU, GONCAGUL SUNAR; MUSIC: ARIA; DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: GOKHAN TIRYAKI; EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:I GULCE PRODUCTION COMPANY, MOST PRODUCTION, PRODUCER: MUSTAFA OGUZ, WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: CAGAN IRMAK

Thirty-something ALPER is a talented chef who runs his own restaurant. He may have achieved success in business, but the same cannot be said of his personal life. While caught in the triangle of his gastronomic creations, one-night stands and escort girls, he suddenly finds his life take a new turn when he walks into a second-hand bookshop in the backstreets of Beyoglu to buy and old record he has been looking for.ADA is an attractive, unassuming and relatively stable woman in her late 20s who designs and makes fancy dress costumes for kids. One day, while wandering around Beyoglu in search of a second-hand book, she walks into the same shop as Alper. A womaniser by nature, Alper is impressed by Ada's good looks and sets off in pursuit. As a pretext for introducing himself, he tracks down the book Ada was looking for, buys it and then presents it to her. As it turns out, this book is the beginning of a passionate affair between the two. But the harder Alper tries to create space for Ada in his existing life, the more restricted, the more claustrophobic he starts to feel. Ada, however, is blissfully unaware of the poison in Alper's blood and delights on being in love.Ada and Alper live out their romance as far as they are able and in the measure to which life allows them.

In Mustafa Hakkinda Hersey (All About Mustafa) Cagan Irmak deals with the lies thrown at us by life; in Babam ve Oglum (My Father and My Son) his standpoint is that of a tight-knit Aegean family; and in Ulak (The Messenger) he tells us of the world we live in by believing in stories. This time, however, he sets his story in the metropolis.ALONE is a film that tells of people isolated and made lonely by modern life; people who need people but are blind to that need in the maelstrom of the metropolis; blind, that is, until it is too late. It is a story about food, mothers, old songs and love; a story both bitter and full of hope. PRODUCTION NOTESShooting for a period of five weeks, ALONE used natural locations that were dressed up and redecorated to match the needs of the script.For this film, too, Cagan Irmak reassembled the principal crew he has worked with on many previous successful productions, with the addition this time of DoP Gokhan Tiryaki, who was named Best Cinematographer at the World Film Festival of Bangkok in 2006.The original score, which was recorded live by a large string orchestra, was composed by ARIA. A number of treasured songs from the 70s were also used in the film soundtrack. Careful to brief his cast and crew thoroughly in advance in order to obtain a natural, spontaneous look for the film, the director scheduled in extra hours with his actors to ensure they slipped easily out of role again. Locations were centred largely on the Beyoglu district of Istanbul, where shooting sometimes required a hidden camera and sometimes large crowds of extras. A number of scenes were also photographed in Tarsus, on the southeast Mediterranean coast. Shot in scope, the film was based for the laboratory stage at Istanbul's Sinefekt Studios. The production used synch sound throughout photography, bringing in an experienced crew from overseas for the purpose.

Captain Kemal, a Comrade

Captain Kemal, a Comrade / Fotos Lamprinos

The portrait of Mihri Belli, a Turk born in 1915, who, after the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922) was a devout nationalist and fanatic enemy of the Greeks, but decided, in 1947, to travel illegally to the mountains in Thrace to fight in the Greek Civil War on the side of the Greek communist guerrillas. Today, at the age of 92, he makes a journey back to Greece where he fought to visit the battle fields and hopefully meet again with his comrades.

Director: Fotos Lamprinos
Script: Fotos Lamprinos
Photographer: Simos Sakertzis
Montage: Alexis Pezas
Sound: Dimitris Athanassopoulos
Music: Yorgos Papadakis
Producer: Costas Lambropoulos
Production: CL Productions, Greek Film Centre, ERT SA Hellenic Broadcasting Corp., & Asi Film
Narration: Manos Zakharias. Texts: Mihri Belli
Type: BetacamSP Color-B&W
Production Country: Greece, Turkey
Duration: 72
Production Year: 2008
World Sales: CL Productions, Greece Zoe Lisgara T. +30 210 6412700 zoelisgara@clproductions.gr www.clproductions.gr

Fotos Lamprinos Filmography

1963-1964 100 Hours in May (short)
1969 Visit Greece (short)
1975 Ermoupolis – 9th Century
1976-1977 A Musical Travelogue with Domna Samiou (8-doc. series)
1977-1980 45 docs (TV series: Images from Northern Greece,
From the Pindus to Evros, ERT in Northern Greece, Research, Backstage)
1980 Yannis Tsarouchis’ Piraeus (short)
1980 Medieval Villages on Chios
1980 Nea Moni, Chios (TV series: This is Where Europe was Born)
1981 Aris Velouchiotis – The Dilemma
1981-1987 Panorama of the Century (33-doc. TV series)
1984 Panorama of the Century 1st episode (1895-1900) (short)
1987 Doxobus (fiction)
1988 Athens University – 50 Years
1989 Struggle at Sea
1989 Crete’s Unification with Greece (TV)
1989 Ancient Rhodes
1989-1990 A 70-year-old October (5-doc. TV series)
The Greeks of Russia (6-doc. TV series)
Political Refugees (TV)
Sergei Paradjanov (short) (TV)
Georgian Painters (TV)
1991 Emmanouil Roidis - Ermoupolis (TV series “The Words of the City”)
1991 Moscow – November 1990. Return to the Future (5 short doc. TV series)
1991 Beauty Will Save the World (7-doc. TV series)
1995 Birthday Celebration or a Silent Balkan Story
1995-1997 In Search of Berenice (3-doc. TV series)
2005 My Power Lies in the Love of the Lens
2008 Captain Kemal, a Comrade

Fotos Lamprinos Biography

He studied Film in Moscow (1965-1970). From 1970 to 1973 he thoroughly researched twenty-two governmental and private film archives in Europe and the United States in search of newsreel material referring to Greece between 1911-1971. In 1973 he collaborated withTheo Angelopoulos on the scenario for Angelopoulos’ film The Traveling Players. From 1975 to 1997 he directed over 50 documentaries for the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), including Panorama of the Century–thirty-three 30-minute episodes narrating the news in Greece and the world from 1895 to 1940, based exclusively on newsreel material; a series of twenty documentaries on the disintegration of the Soviet Union (1989- 1990); and a seven-episode documentary, Beauty Will Save the World (1991), which chronicled the parallel journey of the Russian State and the Russian Orthodox Church from the 10th century to our time. In 1981 Lamprinos filmed a feature-length documentary for the screen entitled Aris Velouchiotis –The Dilemma about the Resistance during the German occupation. His fiction film Doxobus (1987) referred to the 14th-century Byzantine province by the same name and the civil war of that period. In 1995 he produced and directed Birthday Celebration or a Silent Balkan Story, a documentary dedicated to the centenary of cinema and made up of footage from Balkan silent movies (1895-1930). His films have received awards in Greece and abroad. Lamprinos created the first Greek user-friendly archive of old newsreels (1997-2000), which is housed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1993 to 2003 he taught “The Relationship between History and Cinema” at various universities in Greece.

Source:Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

Emel Çelebi's ‘Sisters of Lilith' named best Balkan documentary

‘Sisters of Lilith' named best Balkan documentary - Turkish documentary filmmaker Emel Çelebi's 2008 film “Lilit'in Kızkardeşleri” (The Sisters of Lilith) has won the Best Balkan Documentary prize at this year's Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Kosovo.

Turkish documentary filmmaker Emel Çelebi's 2008 film “Lilit'in Kızkardeşleri” (The Sisters of Lilith) has won the Best Balkan Documentary prize at this year's Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Kosovo.

The 41-minute film, which follows three Turkish women living their lives as a shepherdess, a fisherwoman and a farmer, beat 14 other entrants in the festival's eighth edition, held from Aug. 3-9 in Prizren.

Director: Emel Çelebi
Producer: Necati Sönmez
Cinematographer: Necati Sönmez, Özem Günhan
Editor: Necati Sönmez, Emel Çelebi
Music: Mircan Kaya
World Sales: ZeZe Film, Turkey Necati Sönmez T. +90 212 249 9721 necati@zezefilm.com www.zezefilm.com
Synopsis

Three women who live in harmony with nature, not succumbing to anyone with the force they draw off their labour in nature: a shepherd who lives with her flock in the mountains; a fisher who goes out to the sea everyday although she can’t swim; and a farmer who cares for her home and buys and sells fields. This is a song of praise for the strong and productive identity of women told through the stories of three characters.

Bio

Born and raised in Istanbul. She has studied English literature. She worked in various magazines as editor, interpreter and writer. Her first film “Housekeeper” has won the Best Documentary Award in 43rd Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the First Prize in 9th Women’s Film Festival in Seoul.

Festivals and Awards:

Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, 2009. Ankara International Film Festival 2009. International Filmmor Women’s Film Festival, Istanbul 2009. DocumFest, Timisoara, Romania. Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. International Bodrum Filmfest DOCUMENTARIST – Istanbul Documentary Days. Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival 27th International Istanbul Film Festival
Contact

Emel Celebi
Sahkulu Mah. Seraskerci Cik. 4/2 Galata, Beyoglu
34420, Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: + 90 212 249 97 21
emelcelebis@yahoo.com

10 to 11 at San Sebastian Film Festivalt

Turkish director Pelin Esmer’s “11’e 10 kala” (10 to 11) will compete for the Kutxa-New Directors Award while also screening in the official competition. The 57th San Sebastian runs this year from Sept. 18-26 in Spain's northern Basque region.

The film, starring directors uncle, a real life collector Mithat Esmer in its title role, follows the story of an old antiques collector who resides in an old apartment building that has to be demolished and rebuilt to bring it up to code with earthquake regulations.

In 2009 she received the Jury Special Prize for “11’e 10’ kala” (10 to 11) in the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival. In the same year, she was also awarded the best director for “11’e 10’ kala” in the 16th Altın Koza Film Festival.

This year's lineup from 13 countries is true to form, emphasizing hard-hitting subjects such as homelessness, immigration, loneliness, prison and genocide.

The remaining 14 films will run in the Zabaltegi (New Directors) section. Miraz Bezar's film "Before my Eyes" about Turkish Kurdistan events as seen by children are a few of the other films that will run in the section. The award comes with a monetary prize of €90,000 ($127,250), to be split between the director and the Spanish distributor of the film, has helped launch some of international filmmaking's hottest fresh faces and attracts fledgling talent.

Turkish director Yeşim Ustaoğlu won the Golden Shell for Best Film award with her movie “Pandora’nin Kutusu” (Pandora’s Box) at last year’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

Pelin Esmer's award-winning debut fictional feature “11'e 10 Kala” (10 to 11), will get its theatrical release in Turkey on Sept. 25 through Özen Film.

Bio and Filmography

PELIN ESMER was born in Istanbul in 1972. She majored in Sociology at Bosphorus University. After graduating, she took classes at director Yavuz Ozkan's film workshop. She worked as an assistant director in a number of Turkish and foreign film productions, and directed a documentary, Koleksiyoncu (The Collector) with which she received the Best Documentary Award at Rome Independent Film Festival, and won third place at the Ankara Film Festival. She is currently a lecturer on documentary filmmaking at Kadir Has University Film Radio and TV Department in Istanbul. Oyun (The Play) is her latest film.

Filmography:
Oyun / The Play (Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor) 2005
Koleksiyoncu / The Collector (Director, Producer, Cinematographer) 2002
Gonlumdeki Kosk Olmasa / Omfavn Mig Måne/House of Hearts (First Assist. Director) 2002
Deli Yurek Bumerang Cehennemi / Wildheart, Hell of Boomerang (First Assist. Director) 2001
Cumhuriyet / The Republic (First Assist. Director) 1998
Conversations Across Bosphorus (Assist. Director) 1995

Men on the Bridge in Toronto IFF 2009

Director Asli Özge

The 34th Toronto International Film Festival will be held Thursday, September 10 to Saturday, September 19, 2009. The Toronto International Film Festival ranks among the most prestigious international film festivals in the world.

This years istanbul IFF winner Men on the Bridge was selected to screen as part of the Contemporary World Cinema Section. The film is about the stories of three men working at the Bosphorus Bridge in Istanbul are told by the original characters, in this mosaic depicting real persons exposing their lives and aspirations

Men on the Bridge | Köprüdekiler by Asli Özge
Country: Germany / Turkey / The Netherlands
Year: 2009
Runtime: 87 minutes
Format: Colour/35mm
Production Company: Endorphine Production
Producer: Fabian Massah
Screenplay: Asli Özge
Cinematographer: Emre Erkmen
Editor: Vessela Martschewski, Aylin Tinel, Christof Schertenleib
Sound: Florian Beck
Principal Cast: Fikret Portakal, Murat Tokgöz, Umut Ilker, Cemile Ilker

Aslı Özge was born in Istanbul in 1975. She graduated from the communication Faculty of Istanbul University in 1995, then from the Sinema-TV Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts of Marmara University in 1999. She then went to Berlin to continue towards her Master’s degree in Philosophy at Berlin Technical University. She founded the EEE Production Company with Emre Erkmen and scenarist Dagmar Gabler, and made a film “Biraz Nisan” in 2001. She was awarded “the Outstanding Young Persons of the World" by TOYP. In 2002, in a competition of 10 successful young people in the world, she was chosen the first in Turkey. She received the cultural success award in 2002. She also directed documentary films such as “Hesperos’un Çömezleri” (2005). Özge was nominated with her film in the 42nd Antalya Altın Potakal Film Festival in 2005. In 2009, she was awarded “the Best Turkish Film” for “Köprüdekiler” in the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival. In the same year, she was also awarded “the Best Film” for “Köprüdekiler” in the 16th Altın Koza Film Festival.

Short films:
Aslında (1997)
3 ETC (1998)
Quirck (1999)
Zamana dair Parçalar (2000)
Capital C (2000)

Awards:
“Capital C”:
-the 22nd İFSAK National Short Film and documentary competition, the best film award in the field of fiction video
-the 12th Ankara Film Festival, National Short Film, participated in the field of fiction
-nominated in the 1st Izmir Short Film Days (2000)
-participated in the AFM International Film Festival (2002)

“Zamana dair Parçalar”
-the 1st Izmir Short Film Days (2000)

“Quirck”
-participated in the Izmir Short Film Days (2000)

“3 ETC”
-Izmir Short Film Days (2000)

“Aslında”
- the 1st Izmir Short Film Days (2000)

Reference: kameraarkasi.org; sinematurk.com; radikal.com.tr

Venice 2009 | Soul Kitchen by Fatih Akin

Turkish-German helmer Fatih Akin’s “Soul Kitchen,” which had been put on the back burner while “The Edge of Heaven” was pushed into production, is cooking once more.
The Hamburg-set romantic comedy, which was first unveiled in 2004, has been handed E3.2 million ($5.1 million) in production support by German funding org FFA in May 2008 session and will debut as part of the International competition of feature films, presented as world premieres at the 66. Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica in Venice (2-12 settembre 2009) which is under the direction of Marco Müller for the fifth consecutive year.

The Jury of Venezia 66 will be chaired by Ang Lee and composed of: Sandrine Bonnaire,Liliana Cavani, Joe Dante, Anurag Kashyap and Luciano Ligabue.

Fatih Akin Reunites With HEAD ON’s Birol Ünel For Soul Kitchen, which is a comedy that also stars Moritz Bleibtreu and Alexandra Maria Lara. The Hamburg-set romantic comedy tells the story of Greek bar owner Zinos (Adam Bousdoukos) who has a relationship with a basketball player from Serbia, while attempting to keep his restaurant in business as Akin returns to his favorite themes of culture and gender clash. It has been described as a love song to Hamburg and Akin's home town Film fest (Sept. 24-Oct. 3) is also set to run "Soul Kitchen".

Distributor Pandora will bow the film in Germany on Christmas Day. The Match Factory is selling "Soul Kitchen" worldwide.

Altın Portakal Film Festival to ditch Eurasia, film market

Altın Portakal Film Festival to ditch Eurasia, film market

Well-known Turkish screen actors and actresses salute residents of Antalya in 2003 during the traditional parade that is held every year at the start of the Altın Portakal Film Festival. In light of the ongoing global economic crisis, concern has been increasing over the future of film festivals.

After the Kars Municipality announced that its annual Festival on Wheels would “not be held for sometime” due to financial hurdles, the Culture and Tourism Ministry allocated only half the amount of last year's budget to this year's Altın Koza International Film Festival in Adana, which wrapped up last weekend. Now all eyes are turned to another southern city, Antalya, wondering whether Turkey's longest-running film festival, the Altın Portakal (Golden Orange), will also feel the impact of the global crisis.

After parting ways with the İstanbul-based Turkish Foundation for Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK), the Antalya Foundation for Culture and Arts (AKSAV) will organize this year's Altın Portakal festival on its own for the first time. Film critic Vecdi Sayar, the newly appointed director of the festival, spoke with Today's Zaman about the current and future plans for Altın Portakal.

As someone who has had different roles in many film festivals, what kinds of changes do you plan to make to Altın Portakal?

Taking into account the Altın Portakal Film Festival's 46-year-old legacy, we want the festival's national competition to have more of a priority. We will keep the international competition [held on the sidelines of Altın Portakal as a separate film festival known as the International Eurasia Film Festival, launched in 2005], but redevelop its structure. We plan to release more details in the near future, but I can tell you now that Eurasia will not be the main theme of the international competition. I plan to keep it as a non-competitive program within the main festival. The [Eurasia] Film Market is also not on our agenda right now. Instead of a virtual film market, we plan on focusing more on operational activities.

When new Antalya Mayor Mustafa Akaydın ascended to the post following the local elections, he hinted that the festival might shrink but that it would be open to the public. What efforts are being made to open the festival to the public?

I think that announcement hinted not at contraction but at growth. Real growth should be about quality not quantity. Last year, 1,500 guests were invited. I think that was an overextension and certainly believe a reduction in terms of numbers is necessary. In recent years, I have been hearing complaints that the festival has moved away from the people, that attendees are unable to enter theaters because there are too many guests and that opportunities for attendees to meet artists were not enough. I wouldn't want to say anything definite without obtaining data, but we have plans to screen films in many theaters across the city to enable a wide segment of society to have access to the festival and to increase the number of activities that will allow people to meet artists.

What kind of impact will separating from TÜRSAK, of which you were a founding member, have on the festival? There are concerns that the bar will be lowered.

I don't think the bar was raised too high. But certainly, we will preserve the beneficial aspects TÜRSAK has brought to the festival and the universal standards required for an international film festival. It is clear that neither the mayor nor I will choose the easy way or bring the issue down to populism. The Antalya Altın Portakal festival deserves to be among the most well-regarded and serious film festivals in the world.

How will disagreement between the local administration and the government affect the festival's gains in coming years?

There should not be a disagreement. The Antalya film festival is the oldest film festival in our country. It plays an important role in promoting our country, as it does in promoting Turkish cinema. A stable routine is necessary in order to improve its prestige and regard on the international level, and this requires serious resources. In addition to the Antalya Municipality, the Culture and Tourism Ministry and the Prime Ministry Promotion Fund must continuously extend their support. We must reach a level of maturity so that our festivals, like those in other parts of the world, will not be affected by political changes.

What will the future of the International Eurasia Film Festival be? Will we continue to see world-renowned figures in Antalya?

Instead of having two film festivals simultaneously, Altın Portakal [which was solely a national film festival since its inception] will now have national and international competition and non-competitive programs. And certainly, we will invite outstanding actors and film directors from around the world. Paying Hollywood stars to come to the festival is not the only way to preserve the festival's international recognition.

What plans or ideas do you have about the controversial selection of jury members in the festival?

We are still deliberating on this. Let me say, though, that we will have an approach that complies with universal criteria used in many parts of the world.

Is the schedule of the festival clear?

We plan on keeping the previously scheduled dates, between Oct. 1 and 8. Our mayor will make the official announcement about the date and main aspects of the program at a later date.

20 June 2009, Saturday | ALİ KOCA İSTANBUL from Today's Zaman