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.
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
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