Antalya Golden Orange 2008 | 3 Apples Fell From the Sky

3 Apples Fell From the Sky
Raşit Çelikezer
Orginal Title:
Gökten 3 Elma Düştü
Turkish Title:
Gökten 3 Elma Düştü
Director:
Raşit Çelikezer
Screenplay:
Raşit Çelikezer
Cast:
Köksal Engür, Bennu Yıldırımlar, İsmail Hacıoğlu, Kürşat Alnıaçık
Country:
Turkey
Year:
2008
Duration:
119'
Production:
Defne Film Prodüksiyon
Producer:
Raşit Çelikezer
Photography:
Mustafa Nuri Eser
Editing:
Serdar Çakular
Music:
Tamer Çıray
Young Ali who is a small time thief runs away from home, from his mother and his father whom he rarely sees. Without knowing how he will be received, he takes an awkward trip to his grandfather in Istanbul, whom he has never seen before.

San Sebastian winner is Pandora's Box

Turkish film wins top award in San Sebastian. Nineteen films vied for San Sebastian awards at the 10-day festival held in the northern Basque coastal city facing the Bay of Biscay. Donostia is San Sebastian’s name in the locally spoken Basque language. This year was the 56th edition of Spain’s top film festival.


Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf’s film "Two-legged Horse" took the festival jury’s special prize. The best actor award went to Argentina’s Oscar Martinez for his role in "El Nido Vacio" (The Empty Nest). The best cinematography award went to Hugo Colace for his camera work in "El Nido Vacio." Benoit Delphine and Gustave Kervern shared the award for best screenplay for the French movie "Louise-Michel."

Festivals annual New Director award went to Chinese filmmaker Cao Baoping for his film "The Equation of Love and Death." American director, Paul Thomas Anderson, was awarded the Fipresci prize - a subordinate category - for his film "There Will Be Blood." American actress Meryl Streep and Spanish actor Antonio Bandera’s were honored on Friday with the Donostia Prize for a lifetimes work.


[1] The Match Factory has sold Greek rights to San Sebastian Film Festival winner "Pandora's Box" to 2-1-0 Films after Spain's Karma Films acquired it for Spain at the beginning of the fest.

Cologne-based Match Factory said Trigon Film will release the pic in Switzerland. It will also be broadcast on the NHK web in Japan.

Fatih Akin gets funding for new projects

The upcoming financing slate for the Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund provides subsidies for both features and TV productions that promise high-quality content as well as showcasing the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The institution has funneled $1.26 million into Fatih Akin’s upcoming comedy Soul Kitchen. That represents the largest single contribution of a $4.8 million initiative to fund new films by local auteurs Tom Tykwer (left), Hans Weingartner (center), and Akin (right).

Of most interest is the $310,000 given to the Herbstfilm produced omnibus Deutschland 09. Featuring segments by Akin/Tykwer/Weingartner along with Isabella Stever (Gisela) and Dominic Graf (The Red Cockatoo), the project is a platform for the filmmakers to experiment with the form as they offer their personal insights on the current political and social climate in Germany. The film is a nod to 1978’s Germany in Autumn featuring shorts by Sinkel and Fassbinder.

Türkischer Film vor "internationalem Durchbruch"

28.09.2008

REGISSEUR FATIH AKIN
Türkischer Film vor "internationalem Durchbruch"

Nach Hollywood und Bollywood kommt jetzt "Türkeiwood" - zumindest ist Kultregisseur Fatih Akin davon überzeugt, dass der türkische Film kurz vor dem internationalen Durchbruch stehe. In einem Beitrag für SPIEGEL special lobt er dessen enorme Themenvielfalt.

Hamburg - Tabu-Themen gäbe es im türkischen Film keine mehr, schreibt der in Hamburg aufgewachsene Regisseur und Produzent Fatih Akin ("Gegen die Wand", "Auf der anderen Seite") in einem Gastbeitrag für die aktuelle Ausgabe von SPIEGEL special: "Es gibt großartige Filme über junge Frauen, die gegen die Tradition aufbegehren, oder über Männer, die als ertappte Liebhaber Ehrenmordopfer werden."

Der Kultregisseur sieht den türkischen Film "kurz vor dem internationalen Durchbruch". Akin, selbst Sohn türkischer Einwanderer: "Die Themenvielfalt meiner türkischen Mitstreiter für ein Kino, das sich als visuelle Reflexion unserer Gesellschaft versteht und dennoch unterhalten will, ist enorm."

Zu seinem Bedauern jedoch würden diese Werke "noch immer viel zu wenig beachtet".

Book | Turkish Cinema Identity, Distance and Belonging by Gönül Dönmez-Colin

Turkish Cinema
Identity, Distance and Belonging by Gönül Dönmez-Colin [1]


'A much needed book, Gönül Dönmez-Colin’s Turkish Cinema offers challenging and innovative perspectives on this rich national film tradition. Thoroughly researched, fluently written and always thought-provoking, Turkish Cinema is an indispensable work for anyone interested in the complex and persistent role of film in defining identities.'
–Alberto Elena, Professor of Film History at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Turkish Cinema: Identity, Distance and Belonging is the first comprehensive study of the cinema of Turkey to be published in English. A recurring theme in the book is the Turkish quest for a modern identity in a world where borders, attitudes and people themselves are shifting and relocating. Turkey is a society striving to reconcile modern attitudes to morals with traditional values and centuries-old customs and its films reflect these contradictions.

Against this background Gönül Dönmez-Colin evaluates contemporary Turkish filmmakers, as well as the films of those who have left and those who have been exiled from Turkey. Themes of internal and external migration, as well as the voices of the 'denied identities' such as the Kurds are integral to the book. Gender and sexuality, taboo subjects that only the new generation of filmmakers dare to expose are also discussed – homosexuality, lesbianism, honour killings, and incest are some of the ground-breaking points of the author's account.

Written by a film scholar familiar with Turkish language and culture who has undertaken extensive research both in Turkey and its neighbouring countries, this is an indispensable reference for students of cinema and Middle Eastern studies, as well as the general reader interested in this dynamic, rich and thoroughly modern national cinema.

[1] Gönül Dönmez-Colin is a film scholar specializing in the cinemas of the Middle East and Central Asia. Among her recent books are Women, Islam and Cinema (Reaktion Books, 2004), Cinemas of the Other: A Personal Journey with Filmmakers from the Middle East and Central Asia (2006) and The Cinema of North Africa and the Middle East (ed.) (2007).

Toronto 08 | Un Giorno perfetto by Ferzan Ozpetek

A Perfect Day |Un Giorno perfetto by Ferzan Ozpetek

Country: Italy
Year: 2008
Language: Italian
Runtime: 100 minutes
Format: Colour/35mm
Rating: 14A

Production Company: Fandango srl/Rai Cinema
Producer: Domenico Procacci
Screenplay: Sandro Petraglia, Ferzan Ozpetek, based on the novel by Melania G. Mazzucco
Production Designer: Giancarlo Basili
Cinematographer: Fabio Zamarion
Editor: Patrizio Marone
Sound: Marco Grillo
Music: Andrea Guerra
Principal Cast: Valerio Mastandrea, Isabello Ferrari, Stefania Sandrelli, Valerio Binasco, Monica Guerritore

International Sales Agent: Fandango Portobello Sales

TIFF Tags: Family Violence Women

Tapping into the terrors surrounding a messy divorce, Ferzan Ozpetek's A Perfect Day is a skilfully directed, eerily effective nightmare. Ozpetek delves deep into this common reality, touching on the pain of a husband who is not prepared to accept his wife's decision to end their marriage. The film balances this premise with the fear that envelopes a woman having to face an ex-husband who is not prepared to let go. Ozpetek's camera is used more as a self-conscious aesthetic instrument than a tool to create anxiety, and the evident elegance of his filmmaking provides us with an eloquent investigation into different states of mind.

Antonio has a job as a bodyguard and Emma, struggling to support their two children, works at a call centre. Despite the fact that life is gruelling, she is unwilling to reconstitute her failed marriage. Antonio pines for Emma and shadows her movements, and although the children want them to reunite, Emma has moved on, convinced that she has made the right decision.

But A Perfect Day is more than just a portrait of one troubled couple, and Ozpetek expands his film to provide us with a competing narrative. Juxtaposed against the disintegration of Antonio and Emma's marriage is the tale of Antonio's employer Elio Fioravanti, a politician who is trying to get re-elected. He has his own problems: an unhappy wife and a rebellious son who despises him.

Both men are tested, and both react in different ways. Children are often the battle-ground, and Antonio becomes more and more desperate as Emma's intransigence proves unshakable. Meanwhile, Elio is confronted with a different set of challenges. The denouement is disturbing and powerful. As the drama progresses toward its conclusion, a highly emotional tour de force plays out before our eyes, testing all of Ozpetek's skills as a filmmaker.

Piers Handling


Ferzan OzpetekFerzan Ozpetek was born in Istanbul and studied the history of cinema at La Sapienza Università di Roma. He also attended the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica “Silvio D'Amico” in Rome before working as an assistant director. His films include Hamam (97), Harem suaré (99), Ignorant Fairies (01), Facing Window (03), Sacred Heart (05), Saturn in Opposition (07) and A Perfect Day (08).

Fatih Akin also says "New York, I Love You"

New York, I Love You
Directed by: Fatih Akin, Yvan Attal, Randy Balsmeyer, Allen Hughes, Shunji Iwai, Scarlett Johansson, Shekhar Kapur, Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Brett Ratner, Jiang Wen, Andrey Zvyagintsev

Country: USA
Year: 2008
Language: English
Runtime: 112 minutes
Format: Colour/and Black and WhiteHDCAM
Rating: PG

Principal Cast: Eva Amurri, Kevin Bacon, Jacinda Barrett, Justin Bartha, Rachel Bilson, Orlando Bloom, James Caan, Hayden Christensen, Julie Christie, Bradley Cooper, Chris Cooper, Andy Garcia, Taylor Geare, Carla Gugino, Ethan Hawke, John Hurt, Irrfan Khan, Shia LaBeouf, Cloris Leachman, Blake Lively, Heather Matarazzo, Drea de Matteo, Emilie Ohana, Natalie Portman, Nicholas Purcell, Maggie Q, Shu Qi, Christina Ricci, Olivia Thirlby, Goran Visjnic, Eli Wallach, Saul Williams, Robin Wright Penn, Anton Yelchin, Burt Young, Ugur Yücel

International Sales Agent: QED International

And who doesn't love The Big Apple? In a series of overlapping love stories all set in New York City, thirteen directors and a huge, star-studded cast range from Central Park to Chinatown, the Village, the Upper East Side and Coney Island, all in search of what makes the heart beat faster. It turns out the city that never sleeps never stops pining either.

In the Diamond District, a young Hasidic bride (Natalie Portman) negotiates with a Jain man from India (Irrfan Khan) over a diamond purchase, each flirting with the other's culture and finding surprising common ground. In a cramped downtown apartment, a musician (Orlando Bloom) rushes to finish a soundtrack for an animated film. The director, through an intermediary, keeps pushing him to read Dostoevsky. And when that intermediary (Christina Ricci) turns up on his doorstep, Russian literature suddenly comes alive.

And so it goes, one lovely sliver of love after another, some of them overlapping. Ethan Hawke turns in a firecracker performance as a sidewalk romancer, trying to lure a gorgeous woman (Maggie Q) from the curb to his apartment. Two lovers rush to meet for the first time after a one-night stand, each anxious with nerves. Anton Yelchin plays a guy who finds his last-minute prom date (Olivia Thilby) to be full of surprises. And in one of the film's most haunting stories, the magnificent Julie Christie plays a famous opera singer who returns to her favourite Manhattan hotel. She's brought not just her luggage, but her baggage too.

Like a collection of New Yorker stories, some of the sequences in New York, I Love You carry gratifying twists, while others simply capture telling moments. The directors of this omnibus film are a global bunch, including Joshua Marston, Mira Nair, Natalie Portman, Fatih Akin, Shunji Iwai, Brett Ratner and Scarlett Johansson, as well as Shekhar Kapur, who stepped in to complete a contribution by the late Anthony Minghella. New York has never had it so good.

Cameron Bailey

Fatih Akin‘s films include Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (05) and The Edge of Heaven (07). Yvan Attal recently made the film Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup d'enfants (04). Randall Balsmeyer has directed episodes for the series Between the Lions (00) and On the Record with Bob Costas (01). Allen Hughes has co-created Menace II Society (93) and From Hell (01). Shunji Iwai is the award-winning writer and director of All About Lily Chou-Chou (01). Scarlett Johansson has appeared in such films as Ghost World (01) and Lost in Translation (03). Shekhar Kapur directed Elizabeth: The Golden Age (07), a Gala presentation at last year's Festival. Joshua Marston is the writer and director of Maria Full of Grace (04). Mira Nair wrote and directed Monsoon Wedding (01) and The Namesake (06). Natalie Portman has has starred in numerous films including Closer (04) and V for Vendetta (05). Brett Ratner directed the films Red Dragon (02) and X-Men: The Last Stand (06). Jiang Wen's films include Devils on the Doorstep (00) and The Sun Also Rises (07). Andrey Zvyagintsev directed The Return (03) and The Banishment (07).

48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival

İki Çizgi (Two Lines) by was presented at 48th Thessaloniki International Film Festival - Agora - "Balkan Works in Progress" Screenings.

Un giorno perfetto by Ferzan Özpetek

Un giorno perfetto by Ferzan Özpetek – Italy, 95’

Isabella Ferrari, Valerio Mastandrea, Valerio Binasco, Nicole Grimaudo, Stefania Sandrelli
(Venezia 65)

Emma and Antonio, married with two children, have been separated for nearly a year. Antonio is living alone in the house where he used to live with his wife, while Emma has gone back to her mother, taking the children with her. Then, one night, a flying squad is called to the palazzo and the police burst into the apartment where gunshots have been heard. In a rapid succession of events, Un giorno perfetto describes the twenty-four hours before this moment, the simple but “unique” life of a group of people who are shadowed every step they take. Camilla turns seven, her brother Aris is sitting an exam at university, Emma loses her job in a call-center, her daughter Valentina meets a boy she likes, the honorable Elio Fioravanti is doing the round of election rallies, Maja, his beautiful wife finds out she is pregnant, young Kevin is invited to an extravagant party, the teacher, Mara, is meeting her lover and Antonio sees his wife for the last time. The stories interweave on the great stage of a frenetic, disquieting Rome that seems to be heading towards tragedy, although the slightest gesture, just one word, would be enough to change the path of destiny. Un giorno perfetto describes a passionate love, separating and uniting Emma and Antonio – with irony, emotion and compassion. It portrays worlds diverse and distant, that then meet, as if in an unrelenting thriller.

Emma e Antonio, sposati con due figli, sono separati da circa un anno. Antonio vive da solo nella casa dove abitava con la moglie, mentre Emma è tornata da sua madre, portando con sé i bambini. Poi, una notte qualunque, una volante viene chiamata nel palazzo e la polizia si accinge a fare irruzione nell’appartamento da cui qualcuno ha sentito provenire degli spari. Un giorno perfetto, in un serrato rincorrersi di avvenimenti, racconta le ventiquattro ore che precedono questo momento, la vita semplice eppure “unica” di un gruppo di personaggi pedinati passo dopo passo: Camilla compie sette anni, il fratello Aris fa un esame all’università, Emma perde il lavoro in un call-center, sua figlia Valentina incontra un ragazzo che le piace, l’onorevole Elio Fioravanti è in giro per comizi elettorali, Maja, la sua bella moglie, scopre di essere incinta, il piccolo Kevin viene invitato a una festa lussuosa, la professoressa Mara ha un appuntamento col suo amante e Antonio vede la moglie per l’ultima volta. Le storie si incrociano sul grande palcoscenico di una Roma frenetica e inquietante che sembra portare alla tragedia, anche se un minimo gesto, una sola parola, potrebbe deviare la traiettoria del destino. Un giorno perfetto racconta con ironia, commozione e pietà una feroce storia d’amore, quella che separa e unisce Emma e Antonio. E mette in scena mondi diversi e lontani, che si incrociano come in un giallo inesorabile.

Two lines / Iki Cizgi by Selim Evci

IKI ÇIZGI (Due linee) | Turchia,2008 |93 min.
Regia: Selim Evci
Produzione: Evci Film Production Company
Interpreti: Gülcin Santircıoğlu, Kaan Keskin
Sceneggiatura: Selim Evci
Fotografia: Meryem Yavuz
Scenografia: Mediha Didem Türenem
Musica: Samet Evci
Montaggio: Selim Evci

Starting in a big city and turning into a dramatic road story, the movie is based on a man and a woman's different identities in their own lines.

Selin is a business woman who is living with her younger boyfriend at a metropole, Istanbul. During the summer time, they decide to go to the south by their car and a long vacation starts

Director's Note Two Lines is initially a movie that provides a rather aloof portrait of Istanbul with its unique metropolitan formation. In today's Turkey, the overwhelming force of traditional codes and values is felt in every aspect of our lives. The clash between this traditional force and the inherited values of the west becomes increasingly problematic within the sphere of sexuality, identity and freedom; even harder as miscommunication and confusion sets in.

Two Lines focuses on this influence through the filter of two young protagonists striving to know one another. Their journey into the unknown will give the characters the possibility to break away from the roles given, encountered and transmitted. However, it is a mystery whether this path will make them closer, or farther.

Una giovane coppia convive ad Istanbul senza entusiasmi e senza una vera comunicazione reciproca. Lui è fotografo, lei fa l’attrice. Dopo aver subito l’intrusione di un ladro, i due decidono di partire per un viaggio in macchina, durante il quale incontrano due giovani vicine di casa, rimaste ferme senza benzina. Lui si ferma ad aiutarle, flirtando con loro, e così, per vendetta, la giovane compagna, dopo che anche la loro macchina s’è bloccata priva di carburante, sale sull’auto di uno sconosciuto per cercare aiuto. Le gelosie del giovane condurranno il loro rapporto lungo un pericoloso crinale teso a svelarne drammaticamente il non detto reciproco.

La Turchia contemporanea è divisa fra il ricordo della cultura passata, le cui costrizioni sono peraltro ancora presenti nel tessuto sociale, ed un presente non proprio di stampo “occidentale”, in cui l’apparente libertà ha incredibilmente generato dei nuovi tabù. “İki Çizgi” è il racconto di questa scissione che le società europee hanno invece dovuto affrontare già negli anni ’70. Il vuoto dei paesaggi e degli ambienti, come il silenzio fra le persone, fanno pensare ad Antonioni, mentre l’uso dei colori e una sorprendente sensibilità figurativa creano un’atmosfera allo stesso tempo composta ed urlante. “Due linee”, folgorante esempio della nuova ondata del cinema turco, è così una raffinata messa in scena di un gioco al massacro silenzioso ma non meno crudele, fotografando l’universale situazione di incomunicabilità di una coppia moderna, ancora raggelata dalla paura di confessarsi desideri ed impulsi condannati dalle regole sociali.

Selim Evci, 33 anni, è nato a Istanbul. Dopo la laurea ed un master in cinema, ha realizzato due cortometraggi e due documentari che hanno partecipato a numerosi festival internazionali. Insegna all’università di Istanbul ed è direttore dell’International Annual Akbank Short Film Festival. Nel 2006 ha fondato la Evci Film Production Company, con la quale ha prodotto in piena indipendenza İki Çizgi.

Original Title, İKİ ÇİZGİ |English Title, TWO LINES |Running time, 93 min. |Production Year, 2008 |Country of Production, Turkey |Color |Shooting Format, High Definition |Sound, Dolby Digital 5.1 |Original Language, Turkish |Sub, English, Italian |Formats available, 35 mm print / 1:1.85 , HDCAM SR, Digital Betacam |Turkey Release , October 2008 |Laboratory, Sinefekt |Sound Studio, IMAJ |Production, Evci Film Production |www.evcifilm.com
Evci Film Production Company.

OFFICE ADDRESS İstiklal cad. Mis Sokak. Tan Apt. No:6 Daire:6. Beyoğlu/İSTANBUL

TELEPHONE: 0212 249 58 35

FAX: 0212 249 58 34

E-MAİL : info@evcifilm.com

Venice Biennale | Introduction by the Director

Biennale Cinema 65th Venice Film Festival
Introduction by the Director of the 65th Mostra, Marco Müller

"What is new is unforgettable"Gilles Deleuze

We resolved, for this new-four years mandate of the Cinema Section of La Biennale (for this 65th Venice Mostra), to stop, once and for all, looking at the cinema as if it were an infallible compass. No longer did we want to ask the cinema to rescue us from a problematic, ambivalent, ambiguous present: it was up to us, instead, to stay in there, not to pass over the new problems (artistic and beyond) that are being posed by the age in which we have to live. An age characterized by an evershifting profusion of images, but also without, when all is said and done, there being all that much to see.

If the cinema is no longer (or almost) the cinema, this may also bring to light aspects whose positive nature is not immediately discernible. The cinema has become a whole series of ideas, forces, properties, capacities, myths and stories. And, above all, it has turned into a new way of thinking, and an original and powerful one. So that, fortunately, when we set out to track down what, in the cinema, has come after the modern, we are always exposed to the danger of contagion, from the risk of hybridization.

For over a century the cinema has been the most fertile and relevant medium, and the most inventive; one of the constituent elements of modernity (it has never been a spare part, replaceable, interchangeable). The part of modern cinema that we have experienced as necessary, almost definitive, has had a fine set of progeny. A progeny which, in its turn, has claimed the right to persist, not to disappear gracefully once its own time has passed (as so many movements in the visual arts, architecture and literature have done); it has even claimed, instead, to be the absolute reading of the cinema, its profundity, its essence. But the idea of a modern cinema that has lasted for over half a century is a true oxymoron.

While it did last, the historical modernity of the cinema soaked up everything that was contemporary, so that the contemporary ended up aspiring to be able to coincide with an ideal of the “modern.” Now that modernity is ready to find its place in genealogy and in history, the very notion of “modern cinema” daunts us – so hard have we squeezed it, ground it up, in order to extract what might still be of use to us. And the new classifications? “Contemporary” cinema: contemporary with what? The term, in any case, designates nothing permanent or stable.

The cinema is entertainment too, and it is undoubtedly industry that organizes entertainment (Malraux’s old aphorism remains valid: the first art to have been invented from scratch is in any case an industry). Yet it is no longer the mass spectacle with enchanting effects that it once was, capable of continually renewing its own mythology and, more rarely, its own works of reference. Many of the movies that are being made, in fact, bore people rather than entertain them. They promise moviegoers the latest in aesthetic techniques (special effects: of screenplay, performance, direction, visual wizardry), but then leave them frustrated, hungry for that stimulation of the imagination and for those illusions which the cinema had been able, in other times, to guarantee them, and of which it now offers them frozen shadows (perhaps someone left the air-conditioning on, and turned up too high...).

So who will take us toward new (different) territories, unlikely continents?
While they are certainly not unprecedented or surprising, at least two hints can be found in the program of the 65th Mostra.

a) If we look beyond reflexivity, negativity and historicity, some responses to the end of modernity and the “grand narratives” can perhaps be found in the worlds (in the South, to the East) where “necessary modernity” has never really arrived.

b) Even in worlds nearer to us (in the West, in the North), the passion for the new has not vanished: a “new” which is not novelty for the purposes of publicity, but creation, the sort with a signature, which has an author and so will not disappear with the fading of the latest “new” fashion. An author of the kind who can still allow him or herself the luxury of being untimely – who believes in the new but is conscious that the future is an art of transmission (and, at times, of tradition).

The (provisional) goals of our work are these.

We have reaffirmed the futility of the consecration of Art (pet subject of the festival since the end of the Thirties) and Geography (the pointless ecumenism of a festival as “atlas of the nations and the planet”). Rather, it is now a question of putting to use our knowledge of the route covered in former times in order to come up with new tracks, helping to renew the systems of mapping.

In order to put on a 65th Festival that will be pluralistic, and therefore intentionally contradictory, we could not but place the emphasis, as a glue that would hold the works together, on the intuition of the truth that is concealed in them.
Purity, uniformity and absoluteness appeared unfeasible (because unproductive), and so we have pursued authenticity through its opposite.

Quality has counted, but even more the non- coincidence of the expressive phenomena: narrative freedom; the splendor of the forms; the pleasure of the screen; the challenge to the “common sense of the real” – the continual questioning of the idea of fiction (or of non-fiction...) and of the limits of the point of view permitted to the moviegoer.

Shuffling the cards has meant: taking unexpected risks, trying out untested solutions; recapitulating the recent phases of the “new” in cinema in order to reassess them, to relocate them in the territories to which they belong (but without covering our backs with ideology).
The variety of propositions and options, models and schemes – even of genres (we have not foregone our midnight showings) – has revived the possibility of addressing very different kinds of viewers, particularly keen to explore, to reflect and to enjoy the diverse trajectories of the program. Once again this year it is questions that we must ask of them rather than providing them with answers.

As a result of these programming choices, we like to picture the “Venice International Film Festival” as a place with a richer range of individualities, which can be formed not by assimilation but by comprehension, through an active gaze and through comparison. The future of the Festival, in the shadow of the emerging new complex of movie theaters, is undoubtedly in need of it.

Venice Biennale | 65. Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica

Venice Biennale
The Director of the Cinema section, Marco Müller, continues the work he began in 2004, at the helm of The 65th International Venice Film Festival which runs August 27th to September 6th, 2008.

Semih Kaplanoglu Süt (Milk) – Turkey / France / Germany, 102‘(Venezia 65)
Melih Selcuk, Basak Koklukaya

A high school graduate, Yusuf could not pass the university entrance exam. Writing poetry is his greatest passion and some of his poems are being printed in various obscure literary journals. But neither these poems, nor the rapidly falling price of the milk they sell, are being of any benefit to Yusuf and Zehra’s lives. When Yusuf finds out about Zehra’s secret affair with the town’s stationmaster he gets disconcerted. Will he find the way to cope with his anxiety for the unknown future, the rapid change that he is going through and the pain of taking a step into adulthood and leaving his youth behind?

Yusuf, appena diplomato, non riesce a superare il test di ammissione all’università. Scrivere poesie è la sua più grande passione e alcune sue liriche vengono pubblicate in diverse, quanto oscure, riviste letterarie; tuttavia, Yusuf e Zehra non traggono alcun beneficio né dalle poesie, né dal rapido calo del prezzo del latte che vendono. Yusuf rimane sconcertato nel momento in cui viene a sapere della relazione segreta di Zehra con il capostazione della città. Riuscirà a trovare il modo di far fronte all’ansia per il futuro ignoto che lo attende, al rapido cambiamento che sta attraversando e al dolore di lasciarsi alle spalle la giovinezza per entrare nell’età adulta?


Ferzan Özpetek Un giorno perfetto – Italy, 95’
Isabella Ferrari, Valerio Mastandrea, Valerio Binasco, Nicole Grimaudo, Stefania Sandrelli
(Venezia 65)

23. Settimana Internazionale della Critica (International Film Critics Week) of the 65th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica which is going to be held in Venice from August 27th to September 6th, 2008.

“Two Lines” is one of the selected 7 movies and is nominated a candidate for the award of “Golden Lion of the Future”. The movie will represent Turkey

Montreal 2008 | Bronze for TATIL KITABI

ZENITHS FOR THE BEST FIRST FICTION FEATURE FILMS 2008

Members of the jury of the First Fiction Films :
Pierre-Henri Deleau (France)
Denis Héroux (Canada)
Armand Lafond (Canada)

Golden Zenith for the Best First Fiction Feature films :
FOR A MOMENT, FREEDOM (EIN AUGENBLICK, FREIHEIT) by Arash T. Riahi (Austria/France)

Silver Zenith for the First Fiction Feature Film :
WELTSTADT by Christian Klandt (Germany)

Bronze Zenith for the Fisrt Fiction Feature Film :
SUMMER BOOK (TATIL KITABI) by Seyfi Teoman (Turkey)

2008 Sarajevo Film Festival | Autumn (Sonbahar) by Ozcan Alper

Autumn

Sonbahar
Turkey/Germany, 2008, colour, 106 mins

* Director/Screenplay: Özcan Alper
* Photography: Feza Çaldiran
* Editor: Thomas Balkenhol
* Art Director: Canan Çayir
* Sound: Mohammed Mokhtari
* Music: Yuri Rydahencko, Ayşenur Kolivar, Sumru Agiryürüyen
* Producers: F. Serkan Acar
* Production Company: Kuzey Film Production
* Cast: Onur Saylak, Raife Yenigül, Megi Kobaladze, Serkan Keskin, Nino Lejava, Sibel Öz, Cihan Çamkerten, Serhan Pir, Yaşar Güven

There were two films playing in the 2008 Sarajevo Film Festival revolving around the subject of a recently released convict trying and largely failing to resume a normal life - the other was Thanos Anastopoulos’ Correction (διόρθωση, Greece, 2007). Of the two, Özcan Alper’s feature debut Autumn was the more accomplished work, not least thanks to Feza Çaldiran’s ravishing landscape photography ensuring that there was plenty to look at even when the narrative ran out of steam in the final act.

The film begins with Yusuf’s release from prison, having spent ten years behind bars for his involvement in political protests while at university. He’s released on health grounds, and we’re told at the start that his lungs are barely functioning, signalling in advance that the events of the film will merely be a brief coda to a short life, a third of which was spent incarcerated. He moves back in with his elderly mother in a remote village in the mountainous region of eastern Turkey, and rapidly discovers that aside from the young schoolboy Onur (with whom he strikes up a brief rapport over the latter’s maths homework: Yusuf was a promising mathematician before fate intervened), virtually all the local inhabitants are from his mother’s generation due to the lack of opportunities, and he’s warned that if he stays with them he’ll become like them.

But despite an apparent job offer from his friend Cihan’s magazine, Yusuf does indeed stay with them, his mindset demonstrated by him tuning out the chatter of fellow villagers awaiting a minibus to stare at a slug on the ground (he later claims that everything moves too fast for him outside prison). His old friend Mikahil lives nearby, and attempts to liven things up by taking him out for the evening with two Georgian prostitutes, Maria and Eka, but instead Yusuf ends up having a long heart-to-heart with Eka about her own life as a single mother to a four-year-old girl.

Both similarly damaged by circumstances outside their control, Yusuf and Eka seem made for each other, but the distance between them seems unbridgeable by psychological issues that he can’t put into words, and which she lacks the Turkish to express (a revealing post-lovemaking shot sees them both curled up in a foetal position, simultaneously close and distant). He tries to take up music again after restoring a set of Turkish bagpipes, but his lungs aren’t up to the job - and it’s only a seemingly ill-advised trip to the top of the mountain accompanied by a reluctant Mikahil that gives him any kind of fulfilment.

Hints of Yusuf’s experience in prison are conveyed through brief video footage (random flashbacks can be triggered by anything, even slippered feet on a carpet take on the sound of hobnails on concrete) and overheard television news items about dangerous and insanitary conditions, but Alper generally eschews direct political comment - the only details of Yusuf’s “crime” are conveyed via cryptic one-liners delivered by others: he “wanted socialism”, he “got mixed up in this anarchist business”. While inside, his father died and his sister married and moved away, meaning that Yusuf becomes the primary focus of his mother’s life, and subjected to yet more pressure to marry and settle down.

But the narrative content generally plays second fiddle to some gorgeous images, usually framing Yusuf against the flora and fauna of the village hills. Autumn is signalled by a single yellow leaf drifting past a wooden window frame, and encroaching winter by a fog-blanket settling lower and lower down the slopes. A late encounter between Yusuf and Eka becomes a study in shades of blue, a funeral sees a red coffin carried along a snow-blown mountain path, while a beach encounter at sunset sees the screen split into three strips: deep orange sky, reflected by the texture of the water, the shore in the foreground almost black.

Towards the end, Alper overdoes it somewhat - a scene where Eka complains that Yusuf is like a character from a Russian novel feels like a scriptwriter’s contrivance, and a shot of Yusuf standing on a platform looking out to sea as the waves crash around him would be overwrought even without the swelling orchestral music - though this upping of the visual melodrama is possibly in self-conscious compensation for the fact that the narrative has almost entirely fizzled out by this stage. But for a debut, it’s a very promising piece of work, and it’ll be interesting to see where Alper goes from here.

Posted on 21st August 2008
Source:http://filmjournal.net/kinoblog/category/directors/ozcan-alper/

Montreal 08 | AUTUMN/SONBAHAR by Özcan Alper

AUTUMN/SONBAHAR by Özcan Alper
Focus on World Cinema
Turkey 2008 / Colour / 106 min

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director :Özcan Alper
Script :Özcan Alper
Photography :Feza Çaldiran
Editor :Thomas Balkenhol
Cast :Onur Saylak, Megi Koboladze, Serkan Keskin, Raife Yenigül, Nino Lejava

AUTUMN
Sentenced to jail in 1997 as a university student aged 22, Yusuf is released on health grounds 10 years later. He returns to his village in the Black Sea region, where he's welcomed only by his sick and elderly mother. It turns out that his father died while he was in jail and his older sister got married and moved away to the city. Economic factors mean that it's almost exclusively old people who live in the mountain villages, and the only person Yusuf sees is his childhood friend Mikhail. As autumn slowly gives way to winter, Yusuf meets Eka, a beautiful Georgian hooker. Neither the timing nor circumstances are right for these two people from different worlds. For all that, love becomes a final desperate attempt to grasp life and elude loneliness.


Özcan Alper
Born in Artvin, Turkey, in 1975, Özcan Alper studied physics and history of science at the University of Istanbul. Since 1997 he has been working as assistant director and production manager on a variety of productions. He directed a short fiction, Grandmother (2001), and two short documentaries, Voyage in the Time With a Scientist (2002) and Rhapsody and Melancholy in Tokai City (2005).

Montreal 08 | DOT by Dervis Zaim

NOKTA/DOT by Dervis Zaim
Focus on World Cinema
Turkey 2008 / Colour / 80 min

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director :Dervis Zaim
Script :Dervis Zaim
Photography :Ercan Yilma

Cast :
Mehmet Ali, Berhat Kilia, Sether Tanriógen

DOT
Ahmet decides to help his friend Selim sell a rare 13th century Koran owned by his family. He puts Selim into contact with the local mafia, who promptly kidnap him and request the Koran as ransom from Selim's father, Veli Hoca. Hoca pays the ransom but when the dust from the shady affair has settled both Selim and the gangsters lie dead. Now Ahmet would like to make amends for his involvement in the crime. He tries to track down Selim's family but learns that Mr. Hoca is dead. Ahmet is racked by remorse but he can't find a way of exorcising his ghosts. He tries Selim's uncle, Humdallah...


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).

Montreal 08 | SHADOW by Mehmet Güreli

SHADOW by Mehmet Güreli

Focus on World Cinema
2008 / Colour / 113 min

PRODUCTION TEAM
Director :
Mehmet Güreli
Script :
Nilgün Önes
Photography :
Ahmet Sesigürgil
Editor :
Ulas Cihan Simsek
Cast :
Görkem Yeltan, Serkan Ercan, Kaan Çakir, Memet Ali Alabor

SHADOW
Halim, a poet, is an old friend of Nevzat and who lives in Ankara with his wife and child. He comes to Istanbul because of his mother's illness. Nevzat, meanwhile, plans to marry Selma, the woman he loves. When Halim comes to visit, he introduces him to Selma. But there is a mystery about her: Selma's father, two husbands and a housekeeper have all mysteriously committed suicide. Halim and Selma take to each and Nevzat becomes jealous. They break their friendship and while Nevzat becomes estranged from Selma, Halim becomes more friendly and they fall in love. Halim cares about nothing else. Then Nevzat gets shocking news: Halim has committed suicide. What is it about Selma?


Mehmet Güreli
Born in 1949 in Istanbul, Mehmet Güreli studied philosophy in Istanbul University Faculty of Litterature. He published his first book in 1985, then he filmed a documentary, VAPURLAR (1987). While continuing as a publisher and writer, he shot his second documentary, Necdet Mahfi Ayral, in 2003. He his also an illustrator, with 13 exhibitions of his work since 1998.

Montreal 08 |SUMMER BOOK by Seyfi Teoman

SUMMER BOOK by Seyfi Teoman

2008 / Colour / 94 min
PRODUCTION TEAM
Director :
Seyfi Teoman
Script :
Seyfi Teoman
Photography :
Arnau Valls Colomer
Editor :
Çiçek Kahraman
Cast :
Taner Birsel, Ayten Tökün, Osman Inan, Harun Özüag, Tayfun Günay

SUMMER BOOK
In a small town in Turkish Anatolia, the school holiday has begun, the children in their blue uniforms happily running outdoors. Only Ali,10, seems troubled. One of his classmates has stolen his schoolbook, and now he won't be able to do his homework. His older brother Veysel comes to visit. He doesn't want to go back to his military service. He tells his father, Mustafa, a stern, argicultural merchant, that he wants to study business management at the university in Istanbul. His uncle Hasan, a divorced butcher, warns Veysel that life in the big city can be hard. The mother Guler chats with her friends over a glass of tea, seemingly calm but harbouring a secret suspicion that Mustafa has a mistress. The minor tensions of family life are thrown into sudden relief when Mustafa suffers a brain hemorrhage while away on a business trip..."SUMMER BOOK breathes a quiet assurance that's very impressive for a first feature..." -- Derek Elley (Variety)"Turkish first-time director Seyfi Teoman captures both the charm of what it means to be a child during summer vacation and an overwhelming feeling of grief in SUMMER BOOK." -- Gregory Valens (Hollywood Reporter)


Seyfi Teoman
Born in Turkey in 1977, Seyfi Teoman studied economics in Istanbul and filmmaking at the Lodz Film Academy in Poland. He made his directorial debut in 2004 with a short film, Apartment. SUMMER BOOK is his first feature.

Turkish Films of 32. Montreal World Film Festival

The 32nd edition of the Montreal World Film Festival, August 21 -September 1, 2008
First Films World Competition
TATIL KITABI, 2008 / Colour / 94 min, Dir. Seyfi Teoman, Turkey.

Focus on World Cinema
GÖLGE, 2008 / Colour / 113 min, Dir. Mehmet Güreli, Turkey - Italy.
NOKTA, 2008 / Colour / 80 min, Dir. Dervis Zaim, Turkey.
SONBAHAR, 2008 / Colour / 106 min, Dir. Özcan Alper, Turkey.

Turkish Films of Toronto International Film Festival 2008

Toronto International Film Festival announced final programming details, including the complete lineup of films and programmes, for its 33rd edition running September 4 through 13, 2008. As part of TIFF08, 312 films from 64 countries will screen, including 249 feature-length films, 76 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres, and 61 of which are feature directorial debuts.

Three Turkish Films are included.

Three Monkeys / Üç Maymun by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Pandora's Box / Pandoranin Kutusu by Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Süt (Milk) by Semih Kaplanoglu