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