MWFF 2011 | SHADOWS AND FACES

MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL August 18 to 28, 2011SHADOWS AND FACES | GOLGELER VE SURETLER
Turkey
Out of Competition 2010 / Colour / 116 min

Director : Dervis Zaim Script : Dervis Zaim
Photography : Emre Erkmen Editor : Aylin Zoi
Cast : Hazar Erguçlu, Osman Alkas, Popi Avraam, Settar Tanriogen, Bugra Gulsoy, Erol Refikoglu, Constantinos Gavriel, Pandelis Antonas, Ahmet Karabiber

SHADOWS AND FACES
Cyprus, 1963. The government has just recently declared its independence, but the two major ethnic groups on the island cannot come to an agreement about how the country will be governed. The Turks and the Greeks had seemed to get along, but this changes with the uprising of anarchist groups on both sides. In a small village where Turks and Greeks had been living peacefully, Salih, a Karagoz shadow play master and his daughter Ruhsar, driven from their home by the Greek police, go to their relative Veli in the next village, looking for a shelter. Veli, the elder statesman of the Turkish community there, believes he can appease the mounting tension between Greeks and Turks by keeping a low profile, and he is supported by his Greek neighbour, the local innkeeper, Anna, who tries to calm down her own people, most particularly her hot-headed son, Thanassis. The latter sees a few guns being dug up by young Turks in Veli's garden, then the Greek police bring in a whole load of weapons which they plant in Anna's house despite her protests. The Turks notice and start training in secret with their antiquated rifles, with Veli losing control over the young Turks who believe they should be the first to attack before it is too late. The Greeks retaliate, the violence escalates and many Turks are driven from their villages. When Ruhsar loses her father, she gets occasional help from his Anna, but she cannot help but become apprehensive about a woman who represents the oppression that is enveloping her...

Dervis Zaim
Born in Famagusta, Cyprus in 1964, Dervis Zaim graduated from Warwick University in England and studied film production in London. In 1995, his first novel, Ares in Wonderland, won the prestigious Yunus Nadi literary prize in Turkey. A year later he made an auspicious debut as a director with SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN. Among his other films: ELEPHANTS AND GRASS (2000), MUD (2003), WAITING FOR HEAVEN (2006) and DOT (2008), shown at the Montreal World Film Festival.