Fatih Akin to Un Certain Regard Jury Duty

61e FESTIVAL DE CANNES
du 14 au 25 mai
Jury Un Certain Regard
Fatih AKIN, Président
(Réalisateur allemand)

2008 |Three Monkeys/Uc Maymun by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Three Monkeys/Uc Maymun [1] 2008 Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria [2]
109 min.
ÜÇ MAYMUN FR: (Les Trois singes)
Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
NBC Film Production
Screenplay by: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Ercan Kesal
Cast: Yavuz Bingöl, Hatice Aslan ve Ercan Kesal
Synopsys: The story revolves around the family of a businesman's driver.

[1] Named "Hayaller" originally during the shooting.

[2] Eurimages supports 11 European co-productions including Hayaller - Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)(Turkey, France, Italy) 235 000 Euros and Hayat Var - Reha Erdem (Turkey)(Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria) 200 000 Euros
STRASBOURG, 19.07.2007 -- At its 107th meeting held from 14 to 16 October 2007 in Alicante, the Board of Management of the Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund agreed to support 11 feature films for a total amount of 4 380 000 Euros

Nuri Bilge Ceylan sends Three Monkeys to Festival de Cannes

The poster of the Festival de Cannes 2008 is a photograph by David Lynch, adapted by Pierre Collier, a cinema poster artist.

A mix of old and new, of Hollywood glitz and auteur fare, has proven a recipe for success as the film industry's biggest annual festival gearing up for its 61st edition from May 14 to May 25.

After viewing 1,792 films from 96 countries, organisers selected 19 movies to compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or that winds up the yearly 12-day extravaganza of showbiz parties, red-carpet screenings and wheeling and dealing.

When a final 20th film from France is announced in the coming days, the countdown per continent will be Asia (3), Europe (7), Latin America (3), the United States (3), and a film each from Israel, Canada and Turkey.

The list of 19 films competing for the prestigious Palme d'Or award. A 20th film from France is to be announced in the next few days.

"Uc Maymun" (The Three Monkeys) by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkey)
"Le Silence De Lorna" (The Silence of Lorna) by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne (Belgium)
"Un Conte de Noel" (A Christmas Tale) by Arnaud Desplechin (France)
"Changeling" by Clint Eastwood (United States)
"Adoration" by Atom Egoyan (Canada)
"Waltz With Bashir" by Ari Folman (Israel)
"La Frontiere De l'Aube" (The Frontier Of Dawn) by Philippe Garrel (France)
"Gomorra" by Matteo Garrone (Italy)
"24 City" by Jia Zhangke (China)
"Synecdoche, New York" by Charlie Kaufman (United States)
"My Magic" by Eric Khoo (Singapore)
"La Mujer Sin Cabeza" (Woman Without A Head) by Lucrecia Martel (Argentina)
"Serbis" by Brillante Mendoza (Philippines)
"Delta" by Kornel Mundruczo (Hungary)
"Linha de Passe" (Line of Passage) by Walter Salles, Daniela Thomas (Brazil)
"Che" by Steven Soderbergh (United States)
"Il Divo" by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy)
"Leonera" by Pablo Trapero (Argentina)
"The Palermo Shooting" by Wim Wenders (Germany)
Out of competition:

"Vicky Cristina Barcelona" by Woody Allen (United States)
"The Good, The Bad, The Weird" by Kim Jee-Woon (South Korea)
"Kung Fu Panda" by Mark Osborne, John Stevenson (United States)
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" by Steven Spielberg (United States)
Feature Film Jury
Sean PENN, President
(American actor, director, screenwriter)
Sergio CASTELLITTO (Italian actor, director, screenwriter)
Natalie PORTMAN (Israeli-American actress)
Alfonso CUARON (Mexican director)
Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL (Thai director)
Alexandra Maria LARA (German actress)
Rachid BOUCHAREB (French director)

Awards | 27th International Istanbul Film Festival

INTERNATIONAL GOLDEN TULIP COMPETITION

The International Jury of the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Michael Ballhaus and composed of Joan Dupont, Selim Eyüboğlu; Bent Hamer, Pawel Pawlikowski, and Kirsi Tykkilainen has decided to give:

The GOLDEN TULIP Award to "EGG"directed by Semih Kaplanoğlu (Turkey), "for its poetic and subtle portrayal of a man adrift in a modern world, who, forced by circumstances, returns to his native village to find meaning and the possibility of love."
The SPECIAL PRIZE of the Jury to "THE WAVE" directed by Dennis Gansel (Germany) "for the powerful and gripping way in which it shows how our need for purpose and community can be manipulated to disastrous effect."
NATIONAL COMPETITION

The National Jury of the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Semih Kaplanoğlu, and composed of Sylvain Auzou, Pınar Kür, Michèle Maheux and Nurgül Yeşilçay has decided to give:

the BEST TURKISH FILM OF THE YEAR Award to "TATİL KİTABI / SUMMER BOOK"directed by Seyfi Teoman "for being a first film that conveys hope, tackling the theme of innocence with a cinematographic narrative and a humane approach";

the BEST DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR Award to DERVİŞ ZAİM for his film "NOKTA / DOT" for plainly translating a largely forgotten traditional art to the cinematic language with a masterful aesthetic, and for creating a powerful impact".
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey gave a monetary prize of 50,000 YTL to each of the above-mentioned winners.

the BEST ACTRESS Award to AYÇA DAMGACI for her performance in "Gitmek / My Marlon and Brando";
the BEST ACTOR Award to SERHAT TUTUMLUER for his performance in "Ara".
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey gave a monetary prize of 10,000 YTL to each of the above-mentioned winners.

the SPECIAL PRIZE OF THE JURY to "Ara"by Ümit Ünal for "strikingly tackling subjects that are still considered taboo in today's society within the context of interpersonal relationships by delving deep into its characters' personalities through masterful dialogues."

THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE FILM AWARD, "FACE"

The FACE Award (Council of Europe Film Award) is presented to the director of a film that arises public awareness and interest in human rights issues, creates better understanding of their importance, and best reflects the Council's values of respect for human rights, individual freedom, political liberty and the rule of law. The award includes a sculpture in bronze and a cash prize of Euro 10,000. It is awarded as part of the Human Rights in Cinema section of the festival. The Human Rights Jury of the 27th International İstanbul Film Festival is composed of Nurdan Arca, Philippe Boillat, Tony Gatlif, Abderrahmane Sissako and Jan Vandierendonck decided to give the award to:

"BLIND MOUNTAIN" by Li Yang (China) for "for its powerful message against all violence, no matter its form to women all over the world, because this message is both universal and timeless."
FIPRESCI AWARDS

The FIPRESCI Jury of the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival presided over by Kirill Razlogov and composed of Necla Algan, Madhu Eravankara, Burak Göral, Gyözö Matyas and André Waardenburg gave:

The FIPRESCI Award in the International Competition to "BEN X"by NIC BALTHAZAR (Belgium), for "the powerful cinematic expression of agony and ecstasy of a teenager suffering from autism."

The FIPRESCI Award in the National Competition, in memory of Onat Kutlar, to "TATİL KİTABI / SUMMER BOOK"directed by Seyfi Teoman, for "a sensitive and cinematically pure image of painful life experiences through a child's eyes and feelings."

As in the previous years, Efes Pilsen has given a prize of US$ 30.000 to the winner of the Onat Kutlar Prize, Seyfi Teoman, to be used for his next film project.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS sponsored by the Radikal Newspaper and determined by the votes of the Festival audience, are given to:

"YUMURTA / EGG"by Semih Kaplanoğlu (Turkey) in the International Competition, and "ULAK / THE MESSENGER"by Çağan Irmak in the National Competition.

MEETINGS ON THE BRIDGE FEATURE FILM PROJECT DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP AWARD
Organised for the first time within the Meetings on the Bridge series of seminars, the Feature Film Project Development Workshop Award was given to Belma Baş for her project "ZEFİR / ZEPHYR". Thirteen projects remained from the 113 applications after the pre-selection by Zeynep Özbatur, Fatih Özgüven and Derviş Zaim. From among these 13 projects, Karl Baumgartner, Gergana Dakovska, Ellis Driessen, Marit van den Elshout, Isabelle Fauvel, Noemi Ferrer, Chinlin Hsieh, Michel Reilhac, Jan Vandierendonck selected "ZEPHYR". The winning project will also be presented a monetary award of US$10.000 with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey.

White Angel wins two awards at 41st WorldFest

Mahsun Kirmizigul's film "Beyaz Melek" (White Angel) that represented Turkey at the 41st WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival in the U.S., where it was awarded best foreign film and the jury’s special award for the best director.

Starring actors including Yildiz Kenter, Arif Erkin, Erol Gunaydin and Gazanfer Ozcan, the film follows an old man who invites his nursing home friends to experience the kindness his village offers for the elderly.

WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation ever since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two venues. Now there are over 900 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being non-competitive screening events! It is perhaps the longest-running film festival in the world operating under the same director.

Cinema Honorary Awards to Bora, Günay and Hun

Cinema Honorary Awards were presented at the opening ceremony of the 27th International İstanbul Film Festival .

Cinema Honorary Awards which are annually given to those artists who contributed significantly to the development of Turkish Cinema are presented this year to:

Ekrem Bora, a star, who has acted in the gamut of roles in the Yeşilçam spectrum, from baby-faced movie hunk to strong-featured authoritarian patriarch. From Metin Erksan's masterpiece "Acı Hayat" ("Bitter Life") (1963), Atıf Yılmaz' "Pembe Kadın" ("Pink Lady"), to Ülkü Erakalın's many films including "Gözleri Ömre Bedel" ("Eyes Worth a Life"), Ekrem Bora has become one of the unforgettable figures of Yeşilçam.

İzzet Günay played in many movies which are seen among classics of Yeşilçam for both their plots and acting. All made Izzet Günay forever imprinted on the audiences' memory. His characters who don't run from a fight and stick with the just, the Ottoman male who is street-savvy but has a soft heart and knows how to love, all contributed into making him one of the unforgettable faces of Yeşilçam.

Ediz Hun is the actor most associated with Yeşilçam's romantic young male stars. His name was the first to come to mind in classical Yeşilçam melodramas. Some of his memorable roles were Kenan in the Orhan Aksoy adaptation of Kerime Nadir's "Hıçkırık" ("Sigh"), Şevket in Memduh Ün's adaptation of Reşat Nuri's "Yaprak Dökümü" ("Falling Leaves") and Peregrini in Mehmet Dinler's adaptation of Halide Edip's "Sinekli Bakkal" ("The Clown and His Daughter").

27th International İstanbul Film Festival takes Start

The eagerly awaited 27th International İstanbul Film Festival has started with the opening gala held at the Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Centre on the evening of April, 4th.

Acknowledgement plaques were given to the Festival Sponsor, AKBANK; the theme sponsors, TEKNOSA, BAŞAK GROUPAMA, COLINS, DIGITURK, SABAH NEWSPAPER, NTV and EFES PILSEN.

27th International İstanbul Film Festival also welcomed Claudia Cardinale, a dazzling icon of Italian cinema, forever embedded in our memories with both her beauty and talent. Cardinale received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Festival. Luchino Visconti's 1963 masterpiece starring Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon will also be screened at the İstanbul Film Festival with the presence of the actress.

The opening ceremony of the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival took start with the opening speech of Şakir Eczacıbaşı, the Chairman of the Board of the Istanbul Foundation foe Culture and Arts, the organising institution of the festival.

After the opening ceremony, the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival started with the screening of the Lebanese film "Sukkar Banat / Caramel" in the presence of the director and lead actress of the film, Nadine Labaki.

The 6th Turkish Films Week in Berlin

Turkish films to be screened in Berlin

The 6th Turkish Films Week will take start in Berlin next week. Documentaries and short films will also be presented during Turkish Films Week which will end on April 12th.

The 6th Turkish Films Week is organized by "Theatre Aktuel Berlin" association under the auspices of Berlin State Prime Minister Klaus Wowereit. "Mutluluk" (Happiness), directed by Abdullah Oguz, will be the first film that will be screened at the opening of the week on Thursday evening.

"Mavi Gozlu Dev" (Blue eyed Giant), "Yasamın Kiyisinda" (The Edge of Heaven), "Yumurta" (Egg), "Hazan Mevsimi" (Autumn), "Fikret Bey", "Bayrampasa", "Munferit" (Individual), "Hicran Sokagi" (Sadness street), "Meine Mutter, mein Bruder und ich" (My Mother, My Brother and I), "Riza", "Ademin Trenleri" (Adem's Trains), "Kader" (Destiny), and "Iyi seneler Londra" (Happy New Year London) are the other films that will be screened on three separate theatres.

Awards | Yesilcam Film Awards

1. Yeşilçam Ödülleri
Best film: Mutluluk (Abdullah Oğuz)
Best director: Fatih Akın (Yaşamın Kıyısında)
Best Screenplay: Fatih Akın (Yaşamın Kıyısında)
Best male actor: Şener Şen (Kabadayı)
Best female actor: Özgü Namal (Mutluluk)
Best supporting male actor: Tuncel Kurtiz (Yaşamın Kıyısında)
Best supporting female actor: Nursel Köse (Yaşamın Kıyısında)
Best cinematography: Mirsad Heroviç (Mutluluk)
Best music: Zülfü Livaneli (Mutluluk)
Turkcell first film award: Mahsun Kırmızıgül (Beyaz Melek)
Digitürk debut talent award: Saadet Işıl Aksoy (Yumurta)

French theaters get Egged in April

Kaplanoğlu’s film to hit French theaters in April

Turkish director Semih Kaplanoğlu's award-collecting film "Yumurta" (Egg) is scheduled to open in movie theaters in France on April 23.

Fog and Night | Sis ve Gece (2007) - Turgut Yasalar

Fog and the Night is the search of an investigator who has lost his confidence in his organization and whose happy"family father" order has been disrupted by his young lover.And introverted man due to his profession , not a big talker or well in expressing his feelings,Sedat is being consumed , going through the hardest time of his life , not able to silence his guilty conscience because he was unsuccessful in solving the murder of his partner , whom he saw a brother .His faith in his organization is shaken as he witness the schemes in machination inside the organization and between the organization and the state.Meanwhile , while trying to find his lover who has disappeared after falling for a former militant , he does not refrain from making use of the filthiest methods of his profession.

40th SIYAD Awards

SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics) 40. Anniversary Awards ceremony on March 03,2008 announced 2007 winners in the following categories.

YUMURTA (EGG)
Best Film: Yumurta/Egg

Best Director: Semih Kaplanoğlu (Yumurta/Egg)

Mahmut Tali Öngören Award for best screenplay: Semih Kaplanoğlu, Orçun Köksal (Yumurta/Egg)

Cahide Sonku Award for best fmale performance: Saadet Işıl Aksoy (Yumurta/Egg)

Best male performance: Nejat İşler (Yumurta/Egg)

Best supporting female performance: Derya Alabora (Adem'in Trenleri/Adam and the Devil )

Best supporting male performance: İlyas Salman (Sis ve Gece/Fog and Night)

Best Cinematography: Özgür Eken (Yumurta/Egg)

Best Musical Score: Zülfü Livaneli (Mutluluk/Bliss)

Best Art Direction: Naz Erayda (Yumurta/Egg)

Best Editing: Ayhan Ergürsel, Suzan Hande Güneri, Semih Kaplanoğlu (Yumurta/Egg)

Review |Uneasy Ottomans

Read other reviews from NBC Films web site

Uneasy Ottomans

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Climates takes the temperature of a failing marriage
By SCOTT FOUNDAS
Wednesday, November 8, 2006 - 7:00 pm

Turkish writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Climates is about the winds of change that blow through seasons and marriages. It begins with a woman, Bahar, perched atop a hillside in the Turkish resort town of Kas, while her husband, Isa, explores the ruins below. It is a beautiful day, and this vacation is long overdue, having been too many times postponed due to Bahar’s schedule as the art director on a television series and Isa’s as a university professor. Yet, as she watches him, slowly, almost imperceptibly she begins to cry inside. That night, they will quarrel during dinner with friends. (“Don’t worry, they enjoy seeing us miserable,” she assures him.) And before the vacation has ended, on a stretch of deserted beach that is like one of those paradisiacal oases that peek out from the pages of travel-agency brochures, he will suggest that they should try living apart for a while.

Climates is the fourth feature film by Ceylan, who won two major prizes at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival for the exquisite Distant, and like his others, it’s something of a family affair — only this time, instead of casting his relatives in the leading roles, Ceylan has cast himself and his real-life wife, Ebru, as Isa and Bahar. And if, in the hands of a lesser filmmaker, such a decision might foster a mood of lurid home-movie voyeurism, both Ceylans are such commanding and subtly expressive performers that any charges of nepotism here are as erroneous as in the storied collaborations of John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands. This is also the first movie Ceylan has shot in high-definition video, which lends the images such startling clarity that it is possible to identify the individual beads of sweat that form on Bahar’s bosom as it bakes beneath the sweltering Kas sun. Yet the things Ceylan sees in sharpest relief lie beyond the reach of any digital camera.

I am talking about the hairline fissures that can form in even the most seemingly rock-solid relationship, and how such a relationship might end, without hysterics and by mutual agreement of both parties, for no reason other than that it has simply run its course. Such ideas are hardly fashionable for movies at a time when the Jennifer Aniston–Vince Vaughn The Break-Up is what passes as sophisticated grown-up entertainment, and I suspect that Climates will not be easy viewing for those who feel marooned in long-term partnerships, or maybe for any of us who have known the suddenness with which love can turn to revulsion. Of course, the same could be said of Bergman’s Scenes From a Marriage or Alan Parker’s Shoot the Moon or Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives, and Climates merits a place alongside them in any inventory of the screen’s wise and disquieting portraits of marital collapse.

But there is something you will see in Climates that is not to be found in any of those other films. Back in Istanbul, some months after that day on the beach, Isa stands longingly outside the apartment of a former mistress (the fiery Nazan Kesal), whom he has just run into (with her current boyfriend) in a bookstore. After thinking about it for a while, she opens the door to him, and what follows can only be described as the most awkward and berserk and sensationally unrestrained movie sex scene since the ones in Last Tango in Paris — a clumsy ballet of ripped clothes and bodies slamming against furniture that shudders with violent passion and the sense of two lonely, desperate souls connecting out of some irrepressible, primal need.

Not long after that, Isa begins to think he may have behaved in haste, that perhaps he and Bahar should give things another go. So he travels to Ishakpasa, where she is working, and their reunion there, amid the flurries of midwinter, is something beyond words. The shades of disgust, longing, forgiveness and resignation that flash across both lovers’ faces are like the storm clouds that interrupt a placid spring day and then, just as quickly, disappear — the whole complex history of woman and man condensed into a few sublime seconds of screen time. With that come no easy answers or tidy resolutions, but as Bahar literally fades from our view and an airplane that may or may not be carrying Isa streaks across a brilliant sky, we’re filled with the melancholic reminder that, in life as in nature, each ending brings with it another new beginning.



CLIMATES | Written and directed by NURI BILGE CEYLAN | Produced by ZEYNEP ÖZBATUR | Released by Zeitgeist Films |

SİYAD announces awards

Critics association announces awards

Turkish film producer Üstün Karabol will be this year's recipient of the Turkish Film Critics Association's (SİYAD) labor award alongside actors Kadir İnanır and Müjde Ar and filmmaker-scriptwriter Safa Önal, who will receive the association's honor awards, the association announced on Wednesday.

The SİYAD board of directors said in a statement that Karabol, the producer of such films as Serdar Akar's "Dar Alanda Kısa Paslaşmalar" (Offside) (2000) and Mustafa Altıoklar's "İstanbul Kanatlarımın Altında" (İstanbul Under My Wings) (1996), was deemed worthy of the labor award for "the efforts he spent in the development and promotion of the art of cinema in Turkey since the 1960s," and particularly for his "contributions in making European cinema enter wide release in Turkey." The association announced the nominees for its best film honor earlier this month, with the shortlist consisting of Semih Kaplanoğlu's poetic drama "Yumurta" (Egg), Abdullah Oğuz's screen adaptation of Zülfü Livaneli's novel "Mutluluk" (Bliss), Barış Pirhasan's "Adem'in Trenleri" (Adam and the Devil), Ömer Vargı's "Kabadayı" (Tough Guy) and Turgut Yasalar's "Sis ve Gece" (The Fog and the Night).

The 40th annual SİYAD Turkish Cinema Awards will be handed out at a ceremony at İstanbul's TİM Show Center on March 3.

IIFF 2008 | Juries shaping for istanbul

27th International Istanbul Film Festival program is beginning to take shape. The Festival is sponsored by Akbank and scheduled to take place between April 5-20, 2008. 7 of the films that will be featured in this year's program will also be competing for an Oscar at the 80th Annual Academy Awards.

International Competition Jury

• PRESIDENT: Michael Ballhaus (Cinematographer)

National Competition Jury

• Semih Kaplanoğlu	Nurgül Yeşilçay	Elif Şafak

• PRESIDENT: Semih Kaplanoğlu
• Nurgül Yeşilçay (Actress)
• Elif Şafak (Author)
• Michèle Maheux (Toronto Film Festival Director)
• Sylvain Auzou

  				Michele Maheux	Sylvain Auzou

• INTERNATIONAL İSTANBUL FILM FESTIVAL
  İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts
  Istiklal Caddesi 64
  Beyoğlu 34435 İstanbul
  Phone: +90 212 334 07 00
  Fax: +90 212 334 07 02

  film.fest@iksv.org

Rotterdam 2008 | Egg (Yumurta)

Egg (Yumurta) - TT (IFFR 2008)

Turkey, Greece 2007
Director Semih Kaplanoglu
Producer Semih Kaplanoglu, Lilette Botassi
Production company Kaplan Film Production, Inkas Film Production
Sales Coach 14
Print source Coach 14
Scenario Semih Kaplanoglu, Orçun Koksal
Cast Nejat Isler, Saadet Isil Aksoy, Ufuk Bayraktar, Tülin Özen, Gülçin Santircioglu, Kaan Karabacak, Semra Kaplanoglu
Photography Özgür Eken
Editor Ayhan Ergürsel, Semih Kaplanoglu, Suzan Hande Güneri
Art Design Naz Erayda
Sound Ismail Karadas
Length 97'
Website www.kaplanfilm.com

A poetic Turkish film in which a poet from Istanbul returns to his birthplace after the death of his mother and tries to find his roots. He manages thanks to a young woman. Part two of a trilogy-to-be by the talent Kaplanoglu (Part 1 was Angel's Fall, IFFR 2006).

Egg is the second part of a trilogy by the outstanding Turkish talent Semih Kaplanoglu (preceded by Angel's Fall and to be followed by Milk).

Yusuf (Nejat Isler), a book store owner and poet living in Istanbul, receives a phone call informing him that his mother has died. He returns to his hometown, after several year's absence, to arrange the funeral. In his family home he meets Ayla (Saadet Isil Aksoy), the young woman who spent the last years of his mother's life taking care of her. The poet notices the young woman's charm and is touched by it. Contact between the two is almost non-verbal, but there is a growing understanding between them. Ayla tells Yusuf about his mother's last wish. At first he hesitates to fulfil it, but later agrees and the two set off on a mission.

This film is a wonderful, sensitive, realistic and poetic return to one's past. It is also the journey of a city man back to his roots, his memories. It is a return to the world that for so many nowadays seems to have been forgotten - the world of simplicity, of a life that we once had. It is also a search for one's identity, for family ties. And within that, the ties to his mother. (LC)

Rotterdam 2008 | My Marlon and Brando (Gitmek)

My Marlon and Brando (Gitmek) - TT (IFFR 2008)

Turkey, Netherlands, United Kingdom 2008
Director Hüseyin Karabey
Producer Hüseyin Karabey, Lucinda Englehart, Frans van Gestel, Jeroen Beker
Production company A-si Film Yapim, Spier Films, IDTV FILM/Motel Films
Sales Insomnia World Sales
Print source Lucinda Englehart
Scenario Hüseyin Karabey, Ayca Damgaci
Cast Ayca Damgaci, Hama Ali Kahn, Nesrin Cavadzade, Emrah Ozdemir, Cengiz Bozkurt, Mahir Gunsiray
Photography Emre Tanyildiz
Editor Mary Stephen
Sound Mohammed Mokhtari
Music Kemal Sahir Gurel, Huseyin Yildiz, Erdal Guney
Length 92'
Website www.asifilm.com

Dramatic road movie based on a true story about a young theatre actress from Istanbul who wants to go to her lover. The problem is that he is Kurdish, is in northern Iraq and the American invasion of Iraq makes communication even more difficult. With the original video letters.

Ayça is a Turkish actress and she lives in Istanbul. On a film set in the West of Turkey, she meets Hama Ali, a Kurdish actor. The two fall in love while shooting a film. After the shoot, Ayça returns to Istanbul and Hama has to go back to his home, Süleymaniye in northern Iraq . Ayça and Hama continue their relationship on the telephone and via letters, while America prepares to attack Iraq. The post often doesn't work and the phone lines in Iraq are usually cut off. From time to time, Ayça receives a declaration of love from her lover on video. Ayça can no longer bear the distance between them and decides to travel to northern Iraq. But getting into a country at war turns out to be just as difficult as getting out.
The protagonists in the film are not actors who would quickly be cast for an average love story. My Marlon and Brando is a real story with and about real people. Ayça and Hama Ali are actors in their everyday lives, here they play themselves. In this way the film creates a tense balance between documentary and fiction. The love letters and video letters in the film are real, but Ayça is acting her own life. Result: a powerful and penetrating road movie in which a committed film maker approaches the world through a personal story.

Rotterdam 2008 | Brain Surgeon

Brain Surgeon - SH (IFFR 2008)

Turkey 2007
Director Ömer Ali Kazma
Producer Selen Korkut
Production company A Film
Sales A Film
Print source A Film
Photography Ömer Ali Kazma
Editor Ömer Ali Kazma
Sound Ömer Ali Kazma
Length 15'Part of the series 'Obstructions' about craftsmanship: brain surgery performed by a Turkish surgeon, a virtuoso at his job.

This film forms part of the series 'Obstructions' about human actions and skills; about maintenance, repair, production and creation. Here we follow the well-known Turkish brain surgeon Ali Zirh who performs a brain operation with incredible control on a patient who has become paralysed on the right side.

Rotterdam 2008 | Hidden Faces (Sakli yüzler)

Hidden Faces (Sakli yüzler) - TT (IFFR 2008)

Director Handan Ipekçi
Producer Handan Ipekçi
Production company Yeni Yapim Film, Tradewind Pictures GmbH, Bir Film Ithalat Ihracat Ticaret
Sales Bavaria Film International
Print source Bavaria Film International
Scenario Handan Ipekçi
Cast Senay Aydin, Istar Gökseven, Berk Hakman, Cem Bender, Nisa Yildirim, Füsun Demirel
Photography Feza Caldiran
Editor Handan Ipekçi
Art Design Deniz Özen, Esra Yildiz
Sound Nurkut Özdemir, Umut Senyol
Music Anima
Length 115'

Complex and intriguing Turkish drama about revenge killing. A young woman who went into hiding from her family talks about her life in a documentary. An uncle who sees the film in Germany won't let it rest .

There have been a few Turkish feature films (and books) dealing with the subject of crimes committed in order to ‘safeguard family honour’, the so-called honour killings, but few of them have been successful. Hidden Faces by Handan Ipekçi, known for her socially critical films, is one of the rare realistic dramas which, with respect for women, shows the true face of this problem.
The structure of the film is complex and intriguing. The story begins in a German cinema where a Turkish documentary Honor Killings - A Violation of Human Rights is showing. The audience distainfully watches the confessions of the young woman Zurhe. She loved a local shepherd in her village and had a child by him before he abandoned her. To restore the family’s honour, Zurhe’s uncle, Ali, forces her 17-year-old brother Ismail to strangle the baby in front of her eyes. Her father kills himself instead of killing his daughter. When an enlightened uncle from Germany comes to take her with him, he too is killed by the family males. The bloodshed is blamed on the underaged Ismail, who is only given a five-year sentence. All these facts are revealed in flashbacks and the documentary film director plays the dangerous game of wanting to find Zhurhe, who is now living under a different identity. Her uncle Ali sees the documentary and is determined to finish the job he began several years earlier. (LC)

Article | "Gitmek" (My Marlon and Brando)

Hüseyin Karabey, Turkey’s pride at Rotterdam film festival
Turkish filmmaker Hüseyin Karabey poses for a photograph at the Rotterdam Film Festival, where his film “Gitmek” is being screened.

It is another frightfully cold and windy day as I head to meet with director Hüseyin Karabey during the International Rotterdam Film Festival.


His first feature film, "Gitmek" (My Marlon and Brando), just had its world premiere the night before -- and obviously it went quite well, as Karabey greets me with a relieved expression and a warm smile. As for me, not only am I excited to talk with the man who has shot this wonderful film but I am also more than happy to finally talk with a compatriot in this crazy jamboree. We are among the handful of Turks attending one of the most world's most popular festivals for film professionals in the world.

"Gitmek" is one of the best films I have seen that has come out of Turkey in recent years. It is simple, yet profound; meticulously shot, but with the right amount of documentary feel; it has a captivating female lead and, even more important, it is genuine. On a film set in Anatolia, actress Ayça (played by Ayça Damgacı) meets Hama Ali (Hama Ali Khan -- who happens to be a Kurdish actor). Ayça and Hama Ali fall in love, but Ayça lives in İstanbul and Hama Ali in Sulaimaniya, Iraq. In the following months, they communicate over the telephone and with letters and, once in a while, Hama Ali sends Ayça tender yet passionate video diaries. However, the year is 2003 and eventually the US declares war on Iraq. In this time of chaos how will they ever see each other? The strong-minded Ayça wants nothing more than to unite with her beloved. She decides to embark on a journey from İstanbul to Sulaimaniya via southeastern Turkey, Iran and eventually Iraq. Thus her real adventure and introspection begins. This is the story of a real woman in a real world and one has to congratulate Karabey for his determination in making this film.

Reversing standards

Coming from a Kurdish family himself, Karabey ended up studying in İstanbul. He is better known for his documentaries. When I ask him how his journey toward fiction started he replies: "Well, I always saw cinema as a whole and never really differentiated between documentary and fiction. When I saw what was broadcasted on television I realized that the media never showed what was really going on in the country or the world. What I saw on the screen was not what I or the people I knew were experiencing. I wanted to change that and make something that told the story of ordinary folks like us and not far-fetched characters living in a bubble."

Indeed Karabey has achieved his aspirations, as the delightful Ayça Damagacı, whom the film's story is also based on, is not the picture-perfect damsel in distress. Ayça is chubby, not the smartest person in the world and, furthermore, she is a woman -- thank God, someone finally realized that strong female characters could lead a story in Turkish cinema!

As we continue our conversation Karabey further comments, "Besides the lead being a woman, another 'standard' we wanted to reverse was the concept of going to the East instead of the West in the search for happiness. Ayça's quest is not as such and her heart lies in the East -- in the middle of a war. As we watch her travel through Diyarbakır, Van and even Iran, we realize that the people residing in these places, which we have misconceptions about, also have lives and maintain wonderful traditions and practices that enhance their joy de vivre." I notice that Karabey always uses the word "us" when he is talking about the making of his film. To him "Gitmek" is the collaborative effort of his crew and I admire his sense of camaraderie.

The production story of the film is even more interesting. One of the few directors to hold the complete rights to his films, Karabey gathered a significant amount of his funding from abroad -- namely the Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam Film Festival, where he is currently being hosted. He was also supported by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and, later on, he formed a co-production team with producers from the Netherlands and the UK. Karabey states: "As you know, the production of independent films is quite difficult in Turkey. However, if I managed to make this film, this means that I can form an example and shed a light for younger filmmakers who want to do something that is not the usual mainstream [material]."

"Gitmek" will open in Turkish theaters at the end of April. I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys good cinema. I am already looking forward to Karabey's next film.

30.01.2008
EMİNE YILDIRIM ROTTERDAM