Wrong Rosary | Uzak Ihtimal 2009

Directed by: Mahmut Fazil Coskun[1] Produced by:Tülin Soyarslan Screenplay: Ismail Kilicarslan, Gorkem Yeltan, Tarik Tufan, Bektaş Topaloğlu Director of Photography: Refik Cakar Edited by: Çiçek Kahraman Art Direction: Selda Çiçek Music: Rahman Altın Cast: Nadir Saribacak, Gorkem Yeltan, Ersan Uysal; Production & Sales: Hokus Fokus, mahmutfazil@gmail.com, +90 533 810 57 97

Mahmut Fazil Coskun’s Istanbul-set Wrong Rosary, a muezzin (the person who leads the call to the mosque’s Friday service) falls in love with his neighbor, who happens to be a Catholic nurse.
[1] Mahmut Fazil COSKUN (1973, Turkey) attended courses at the Bilgi University in Istanbul from 2001 until 2004. Wrong Rosary is his feature début.

From RIFF

"A wonderful atmosphere from Istanbul, where a peculiar love story takes place: muezzin Musa falls for his neighbour, the Catholic nurse Clara. The story gets even more exceptional when Musa meets Yakup, who turns out to be connected with Clara. Different ambiances of a multi-religious and multicultural city.

This is a story of sensuality, love and grief, growing in the anonymity of a big modern city. It takes place in present-day Istanbul, in Galata. Musa is a beginning muezzin who comes to the city for the first time in his life. He is assigned to work in a mosque and receives an apartment. Upon his arrival he meets his next door neighbour Clara, a Catholic nurse. She takes care of the older nurse, Sister Anna. Excitement and a simultaneously warm sensation emerge from this first encounter. In the beginning, the young muezzin is quite hesitant to confess to himself what is actually happening, but as time passes his love for Clara pervades his life. Another storyline emerges when Musa comes across the bibliophile Yakup at the church that Clara attends regularly, and starts working for him. A few surprises and unexpected turns emerge when the lives of the three intersect.

Slow-paced, with a pleasant rhythm and an eye for detail, the film depicts different ambiances of multi-religious Istanbul, within its distinctive spaces and through the stories of a variety of unusual characters. This exceptional début by Mahmut Fazil Coskun is certainly a strong voice amongst the up-and-coming young talents from Turkey. (LC)

Rotterdam 2009 Award for Wrong Rosary|Uzak İhtimal

Mahmut Fazil Coskun with his award (in the middle)

2009 Rotterdam Film Festival: Jan. 21-Feb. 1, 2009 VPRO Tiger Awards: Be Calm and Count to Seven (Aram bash va ta haft beshmar) by Ramtin Lavafipour (Iran), Breathless (Ddongpari) by Yang Ik-June (South Korea) and Wrong Rosary (Uzak ihtimal) by Mahmut Fazil Coskun (Turkey)

During the IFFR 2009 Awards Ceremony on Friday, January 30, 2009 in the Rotterdamse Schouwburg, the winning films of the 38th International Film Festival Rotterdam were announced. The three VPRO Tiger Awards were granted to the Hubert Bals Fund supported film Be Calm and Count to Seven (Aram bash va ta haft beshmar) by Ramtin Lavafipour (Iran), to Breathless (Ddongpari) by Yang Ik-June (South Korea), and to Wrong Rosary (Uzak ihtimal) by Mahmut Fazil Coskun (Turkey).

On Saturday January 31st, 2009 the KPN Audience Award and the Dioraphte Award for Best Hubert Bals Fund Supported Film 2009 will be announced. VPRO Tiger Awards Fourteen films by first or second filmmakers competed in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition 2009.

The Jury consists visual artist Marlene Dumas (South Africa/The Netherlands), Turkish writer, filmmaker and Jury Chair Yesim Ustaoglu (her Journey To The Sun (1999) and recent Pandora’s Box, both supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, screen in the festival), Mr Park Ki-Yong, Director of the Korean Academy of Arts and Co-Director of the Cinema Digital Seoul Film Festival, Hungarian writer, director and actor Kornél Mundruczó (his Delta screens in the festival) and Kent Jones, Associate Director of Programming Film Society of Lincoln Center, New York.

The jury statements on the VPRO Tiger Award winning Wrong Rosary (Uzak ihtimal) by Mahmut Fazil Coskun (Turkey, 2008) ‘A uniquely creative film of the most eloquent simplicity, a film built from a feeling of immediacy, moment by moment, breath by breath; a film that builds an absolutely unique form of suspense; a film that stays true to itself from beginning to end.’

Each VPRO Tiger Award comes with a prize of Euro 15,000 and guaranteed broadcast by Dutch public television network VPRO.

Rotterdam 2009 |Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun interview

Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun: a new voice in Turkish cinema Turkish cinema kicks off this year’s international adventures with a welcome surprise. Award-winning documentary director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s impressive feature debut “Uzak İhtimal” (Wrong Rosary) is enjoying its world premiere here, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2009. What more, Coşkun’s film is among the 14 feature films that are competing for the festival’s top prize, the Tiger award, and it’s the first Turkish entry to be included in the main lineup throughout the 38-year history of the festival. For me, talking to Coşkun in Rotterdam has a special meaning because about seven years ago, we were studying film in the same master’s degree program. Knowing him in this context surely caused us to diverge from the path of the conventional interview -- it takes us about 30 minutes before we can actually stop ourselves from laughing and joking. I realize that there is one thing that strikes me about Coşkun, besides being talented, he was always a very humble, self-effacing and warm person, and it’s rather relieving to see that he hasn’t lost these rare qualities, as sometimes it’s quite difficult to meet someone on the cultural scene who doesn’t have an ego the size of the Hindenburg. In this regard, I am not surprised to see that his cinematic style reflects his distinct type of ease and idiosyncratic humor, without ever becoming superficial. “Wrong Rosary” is the simple story of a fresh-faced muezzin called Musa, appointed to İstanbul’s Galata region, and falls in love with Clara, a reticent and devout Catholic nurse who lives next door. The story might sound like a contemporary version of the TV melodrama “The Thorn Birds,” but do not be fooled. It is simply a contemplative and quiet journey about an impossible love between two very nice people. Big words are not spoken, there is no schmaltzy drama, just the fact that these two people never dare express their adoration for each other. Coşkun’s style is not a judgmental one, and his strange mixture of compassion and humor toward his characters are touching. In one scene, Musa is talking with his superior at the mosque, a wise and pious imam. The imam cheekily probes him over whether he has a love interest. Musa denies it only to get the reply: “Come on, I know you are thinking of a girl. I hope she’s also a believer, because you’ll never get hurt by a believer,” a beautiful line that sums up the irony of the situation. For Coşkun, his film does not have any political undertones and is not predominantly about the unspoken walls between religions. Rather, it is about the very universal situation of humans not being able to fully express themselves and communicate their feelings. We also talk about the process of the production of his film. Turkish filmmaker Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun poses for a portrait at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where his debut feature premiered this week. How did you get the idea to make this film and how long was the process of getting it off the ground? Two years ago, we had the idea with a writer friend of mine to make a trilogy titled “Three Things” -- which would be about the concepts of love, money and religion. We couldn’t really come up with something that was satisfying. Then I focused on the concept of religion, but in that light, it was to be about impossible love. I’m not a writer, I brought together a group of people (Tarık Tufan, Görkem Yeltan and İsmail Kılıçarslan) who would write the script. Was it easy to gather the funding and get the film rolling? It wasn’t easy. Although we received production support from the Culture and Tourism Ministry, we ran out of money halfway through the production. Luckily, later on, Bank Asya sponsored us so we were able to complete the film; however, I still think it’s very difficult to finance a film in Turkey -- the Culture Ministry is almost the only body that provides funding. And what about the production process? Was it easy to work with the crew? Unfortunately it takes a lot of convincing to put together a cast and crew for feature films. I realize that because so many crew members have such difficult working conditions on the sets of television series where they normally work at, they almost lose their will and spirit when it comes to making movies. It’s very difficult to establish a spirit of camaraderie. On that note, I felt very tired and discouraged once filming was over. But thankfully, we had a great editor on board, Çiçek Kahraman, who really helped us in attaining a satisfying result. What are your main influences? And which Turkish directors do you like? I’m a huge Woody Allen fan. I also admire Semih Kaplanoğlu. What if we asked you to sum up “Wrong Rosary” in just one sentence? You know I wish I could really answer that question, but I really can’t. If I were able to sum everything up in one sentence, I don’t think I would be making films. 30 January 2009, Friday EMINE YILDIRIM ROTTERDAM

Rotterdam | Young Turkish Cinema Introduction

Young Turkish Cinema Introduction
Ludmila Cvikova
l.cvikova@filmfestivalrotterdam.com

When is the right time to pay attention to a film industry in a specific region, and why would one actually do so?

In September 2008, the IFFR had a first meeting in Holland with a number of young Turkish film critics, some of whom are affiliated with the prestigious film critic magazine Altyazi, to discuss recent developments occurring in the Turkish film industry. A few more meetings followed, among others during the Festival on Wheels in Kars and later on in Istanbul. Our discussions initially revolved around the generation of film makers who began their careers in the 1990s and have achieved worldwide acknowledgement with outstanding auteurs cinema, such as Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Yesim Ustaouglu, or Semih Kaplanoglu, but later on we also focused on the newest generation and names that have appeared recently. As the IFFR is known for its focus on young and upcoming talents, the outline for our special thematic programme started to take shape. The Altyazi film critics embraced this concept, as they agreed that there is a lot of young talent within Turkish cinema worth paying special attention to.

Another interesting phenomenon that should not go unnoticed is that a new generation of young film critics are closely following what is happening in film in their country – the ideal combination of a generation that is artistically and intellectually connected. (Although it was never a formally organised film movement, weren’t the film critics who came up with the blanket term of French new wave in the sixties in fact French?)

The year 2008 was exceptionally dynamic and successful for Turkish cinema and directors. Let’s have a chronological look at their concrete successes: The film débutMy Marlon and Brando (Gitmek) by Hüseyin Karabey, a semi-biographical love story about a young Turkish woman, Ayca, and her journey to Northern Iraq to meet her great love, Hama Ali, a Kurdish man. It was successfully presented during the IFFR in January and received many acclaims thereafter.
Another rewarding presentation of a first film at a big festival followed very shortly after – this time it was the picturesque and moving story of a Turkish family in a provincial Mediterranean town – Summer Book made by Seyfi Teoman and presented at the Berlinale.
The Best Director award at Cannes for Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Three Monkeys was a very much expected acknowledgement for this extraordinary visually depicted family drama with outstanding acting.
Autumn (Sonbahar), a film that tackles the issues of forsaken young generations in Turkey and their struggle for social change, directed by Özcan Alper, who according to Variety is an ‘impressive new voice in Turkish cinema’, was selected for the International Film Competition at the 61st Locarno Film Festival and awarded the CICAE Prize.

Milk (SÜT), the second part in Semih Kaplanoglu’s Yusuf Trilogy, in which he sketches the progressive industrialisation of the countryside, was selected for the competition section of the 65th Venice International Film Festival, while the first part of the trilogy, Egg (Yumurta), was included in Sight&Sound magazine’s list, ‘The Best of 2008 – 50 Critics 150 Films’.
First-time director Selim Evci’s film Two Lines (Iki Cizgi), in which he observes the young generation’s male-female relationships in modern Turkey, took part in the 23rd International Film Critics Week of the Venice IFF.

Yesim Ustaouglu and her work have been supported by IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund since 1999. Ustaoglu’s latest project, Pandora’s Box (Pandora’nin kutusu), was successfully presented last September in San Sebastian and awarded two prizes: a Golden Seashell for Yesim Ustaoglu and a Silver Seashell for Tsilla Chelton as best actress. It is the story of a Turkish family in which the modern world meets the old, alienation and isolation occur and individuals go through universally understandable self-discovery.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that this year for the first time the IDFA competition included a Turkish documentary, On the Way to School by Orhan Eskikoy and Özgür Dogan.

Actually, the last decade and a half has been a good time for Turkish cinema, and that’s why we have selected for this special programme some older films that have played an important role. After the collapse of many production companies in the mid-1990s, the actual number of films decreased but films with a new sort of funding increased – directors took over the production of their own films. The rising artistic quality of some of those films hasn’t remained unnoticed. No one knew who Dervis Zaim was when his low-budget cinema-verité style début Summersaults in a Coffin (Tabutta Rövasata) came out in 1996, but he was soon to become a household name for young Turkish film enthusiasts, inspiring a few independent Turkish films produced in the next decade, among them Zeki Demirkubuz’s Innocence(Masumiyet) from 1997. This important film, supported by a great cast, redefined the genre of melodrama, which has been inherent in the Turkish movie culture ever since the 1960s.

The Small Town (Kasaba, 1997), the directorial début of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is a wonderful black-and-white intimate family portrait based on an autobiographical story, a film that still continues to maintain its irreplaceable position in Turkish cinema with its inspirational minimalism that, together with his following works, would make Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s name as a directorial genius.
The first film by the social-realist film collective Yeni Sinemacilar, On Board(Gemide, 1998) by Serdar Akar, began a new style of filmmaking in Turkey: straightforward and thought-provoking. This film continues to exert its unique influence over independent Turkish cinema.
Yesim Ustaoglu’s second feature Journey To The Sun (Gunese Yolculuk, 1999) was an arresting portrait, with a pronounced documentary-style feel, of the oppression of the Kurdish minority in Turkey.

Semih Kaplanoglu’s unique narrative style in Angel’s Fall (Melegin Dususu, 2004)and his use of end-to-beginning chronological flashbacks of his protagonist’s life in the provinces in his Yusuf Trilogy, would heighten his virtuosity through his contemplative reflection on the concept of ‘time’.

Besides films you may have already seen throughout the year, we are proud to present you a few new titles that will have their premières during the IFF Rotterdam 2009: A dynamically shot story of two friends who get into deep trouble in Istanbul’s chaotic underground scene, Black Dogs Barking (Kara köpekler havlarken ), a directorial début by Maryna Gorbach and Mehmet Bahadir Er.
Kazim Öz’s second feature The Storm (Bahoz) is a true-to-life epic of a group of Kurdish students at the Istanbul University in anticipation of social revolution.

And last but not least, for the first time ever in the IFFR’s Tiger Award Competition, a Turkish film: Wrong Rosary by Mahmet Fazil Coskun, a story of sensuality, love and grief growing within the anonymity of a big city between the young muezzin Musa and the Catholic nurse Clara, in today’s Istanbul. This exceptional début by Mahmut Fazil Coskun is certainly a strong representative of up and coming young talent from Turkey.

We are quite sure that new names and films will still be appearing as you read these words or are enjoying watching the films that we have selected for you from these two generations. Only time will tell us what the present dynamics of the Turkish film industry will mean for the history of Turkish cinema. Enjoy this wonderful, challenging visual trip to this modern and modernising culture!

With special and enormous thanks to Emine Yildirim, and many special thanks to Gozde Onaran, Senem Aytac, Nadir Operli, Yamac Okur, Seyfi Teoman and Christine Dollhofer.
During the IFFR 2009, a special Young Turkish Cinema booklet will be available. It is written, edited and published by the film critics of Altyazi film magazine in co-operation with the IFFR and Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz, Austria

Turkish Cinema |Rotterdam IFF 2009

Signals: Young Turkish Cinema 2009
Important new Turkish films by young film makers and the pioneering middle generation.

Autumn Straight our of prison, the once political active Yusuf returns to his Black- Sea hometown. It isn’t just redemption he seeks but a peaceful asylum for his...Özcan Alper, Turkey, Germany, 2008, 106 min.

Black Dogs Barking A dynamic shooting-style, pitch-perfect written street lingo and a transfixing dog-eat-dog story form the essence of this exciting first feature about two...Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Gorbach, Turkey, 2009, 88 min.

Innocence Society has turned its back on Bekir, Ugur and Yusuf, three marginals who look for love in the most unlikely places. Director Zeki Demirkubuz’s tour-de-force...Zeki Demirkubuz, Turkey, 1997, 110 min.

Journey to the Sun Two men of different origin, a western Turk and a Kurd. A true friendship that goes beyond cultural boundaries. Amidst the chaotic background of Istanbul and...Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey, 1999, 113 min.

Kasaba Awe-inspiring black-and-white début film of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, shot in a village in Anatolia, about the director's childhood years. Two children are witness to...Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey, 1997, 85 min.

Milk A young emerging poet, his beautiful but unfulfilled mother and their small Turkish town about to be swallowed by industrialization. A contemplative tableaux...Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey, France, Germany, 2008, 102 min.

On Board First film by the social-realist film collective Yeni Sinemacilar, which became the harbinger of a new style of film making in Turkey: straightforward and...Serdar Akar, Turkey, 1998, 102 min.

One Note Man, The Charming tragicomedy about music and love. Cymbal player in a symphony orchestra has a supporter in the audience.Daghan Celayir, Turkey, 2008, 14 min.

Pandora's Box An estranged family is brought together upon the news of their mother’s worsening illness. But the tough-minded mother is not so keen on spending time with her...Yesim Ustaoglu, Turkey, France, Germany, Belgium, 2008, 112 min.

Slope, The Sober yet effective début about a cleaner's routines in hospital.Mehmet Can Mertoglu, Turkey, 2008, 14 min.

Somersault in a Coffin A social outcast’s daily adventures couldn’t be more endearing; Mahsun looks like he just escaped from Folsom Prison but his genuineness and warm-hearted...Dervis Zaim, Turkey, 1996, 80 min.

Storm, The The 90s were the heyday of Turkey’s student movement, and acclaimed documentarist Kazim Öz’s second feature The Storm is a true-to-life epic of Kurdish...Kazim Öz, Turkey, 2008, 156 min.

Summer Book A long summer vacation by the sea. An ordinary Turkish family whose life takes an unexpected turn. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old boy, this...Seyfi Teoman, Turkey, 2008, 92 min.

Two Lines Psychologically unnerving and sinisterly suspenseful, first-time director Selim Evci’s Two Lines is an acute observation of the young generation's...Selim Evci, Turkey, 2008, 97 min.

Nominations Announced for 2009 Yeşilçam Awards

47 titles vie for Yeşilçam Awards

A total of 47 Turkish movies were running for the 2008 Yeşilçam Awards, with the addition of last month's six releases that also included the box office champion "A.R.O.G," the awards' organizers announced this week.

The Yeşilçam Awards, named after the İstanbul street that served as the country's filmmaking hub during the Turkish movie industry's heyday from the 1950s to the '70s, was launched last year in a bid to boost film production in Turkey.

Dubbed the Turkish equivalent of the Oscars by the Turkish Foundation for Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK), which organizes the event, the Yeşilçam Awards are given in 11 categories. These includebest film, director, screenplay, soundtrack, actor, actress, supporting actor, supporting actress and first film. The best film statuette comes with a cash prize of TL 150,000 while the director of
the best first film receives a TL 30,000 prize. Turkish productions released throughout the past year are eligible for the competition.

Best Director:
Nuri B. Ceylan (Üç Maymun),
Özcan Alper (Sonbahar),
Çağan Irmak (Issız Adam),
Tolga Örnek (Devrim Arabaları),
Cem Yılmaz-Ali Taner Baltacı (A.R.O.G)

Best Male Actor:
Onur Saylak (Sonbahar),
Yavuz Bingöl (Üç Maymun),
Cem Yılmaz (A.R.O.G),
Çetin Tekindor (Ulak),
Taner Birsel (Devrim Arabaları)

Best Female Actor:
Hatice Aslan (Üç Maymun),
Nurgül Yeşilçay (Vicdan),
Demet Akbağ (O... Çocukları),
Ayça Damgacı (Gitmek),
Melis Birkan (Issız Adam)
Cem Yılmaz-Ali Taner Baltacı (A.R.O.G)

Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role:
Ercan Kesal (Üç Maymun),
Serkan Keskin (Sonbahar),
Selçuk Yöntem (Devrim Arabaları),
Volga Sorgu (Gitmek),
Zafer Algöz (A.R.O.G),
Altan Erkekli (O... Çocukları)


Best Female Actor in a Supporting Role:
Megi Kobalakzde (Sonbahar),
Selen Uçer (Ara), .Şerif Sezer (Ulak),
Yıldız Kültür (Issız Adam),
Özgü Namal (O... Çocukları)

Best Screenplay:
Özcan Alper (Sonbahar)
Çağan Irmak (Issız Adam)
Ebru Ceylan- Ercan Kesal-Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Üç Maymun)
T.Örnek/ M.Dişli (D.Arabaları)
Sırrı S. Önder (O... Çocukları)

Best Music:
Aria Müzik (Issız Adam)
Mazlum Çimen (Son Cellat)
Demir Demirkan (D. Arabaları)
Zülfü Livaneli (Vicdan)
Cahit Berkay (Yağmurdan Sonra
Evanthia Reboutsika (Ulak)

Best Cinematograpy:
Gökhan Tiryaki (Üç Maymun)
Feza Çaldıran (Sonbahar)
Soykut Turan (AROG)
Hasan Gergin (Devrim Arabaları),
Mirsad Heroviç (Ulak)

Young talent Award:
Ahmet R. Şungar (Üç Maymun)
Onur Ünsal (Devrim Arabaları)
Ozan Bilen (Girdap) .Atakan Yağız (Ulak)
Emrah Özdemir (Gitmek)

First Film Award:
Sonbahar
Devrim Arabaları
Gitmek
Bayrampaşa: Ben Fazla Kalmayacağım
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‘Three Monkeys' snubbed in Oscar nominations

‘Three Monkeys' snubbed in Oscar nominations

"Üç Maymun" (Three Monkeys), Turkey's entry in this year's race for the best foreign-language film Oscar, did not make it into yesterday's nominations for this year's Academy Awards.Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Cannes best director prize-winning dark drama of family secrets was not included in the five-piece shortlist, consisting of Germany's "The Baader Meinhof Complex," France's "The Class," Japan's "Departures," "Revanche," from Austria and "Waltz with Bashir" from Israel.

3 Monkeys makes the Nine

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has whittled down its foreign-language contenders to nine semi-finalists. The five nominees will be announced, along with other categories, on Jan. 22. There had been 65 films that qualify. The Phase I committee, consisting of several hundred Los Angeles-based members, screened the 65 eligible films between mid-October and Jan. 10. That group's top six choices, augmented by three additional selections voted by the Academy's foreign-language film award executive committee, constitute the shortlist. The shortlist will be winnowed down to the five 2008 nominees by specially selected committees in New York and Los Angeles. The committee members will spend this Friday, Saturday and Sunday viewing three of the films each day. The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2008 will be presented on February 22, 2009.

The nine are:
Austria, "Revanche," Gotz Spielmann, director
Canada, "The Necessities of Life," Benoit Pilon, director
France, "The Class," Laurent Cantet, director
Germany, "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Uli Edel, director
Israel, "Waltz with Bashir," Ari Folman, director
Japan, "Departures," Yojiro Takita, director
Mexico, "Tear This Heart Out," Roberto Sneider, director
Sweden, "Everlasting Moments," Jan Troell, director
Turkey, "3 Monkeys," Nuri Bilge Ceylan, director.

Anılar arasında ‘Yaralı Kurt’

Anılar arasında ‘Yaralı Kurt’
28/11/2008

Hürrem Erman’ın yaşamöyküsünü geçmiş günlere dalıp giderek okudum. Rıza Kıraç roman tadında yazmış. Hürrem Erman’ı, Rıza Kıraç’ın doğduğu yıl tanıdım, 1970’te
SELİM İLERİ (Arşivi)

Can Yayınları’nın Yaşam dizisini elden geldiğince okuyorum. Elden geldiğince diyorum, çünkü, Rıza Kıraç’ın kaleme getirdiği Hürrem Erman/İzlenmemiş Bir Yeşilçam Filmi dizinin 122. kitabıymış. 2. sayfada öyle yazıyor. Bu 122 kitabın hepi topu kaçını okumuş olabilirim?
Hürrem Erman’ın yaşamöyküsünü geçmiş günlere dalıp giderek okudum. Rıza Kıraç roman tadında yazmış. “Bir edebiyat yazarı olarak kurmacanın, belgesel filmci olarak gerçeğin değerini her zaman önemsemişimdir” diyor. Kitabın başarısına bir anahtar.
Hürrem Erman’ı, Rıza Kıraç’ın doğduğu yıl tanıdım, 1970’te. Yeşilçam’ın Yeşilçam olduğu günlerdi. Mesela Erman Film, o yıl, Adsız Cengâver’in yapımevi. Adsız Cengâver, hem renkli hem sinemaskop. Hollywood filmlerinden sinemaskobu biliyoruz, ama yerlisini -galiba- ilk kez görüyoruz.

Unutamadığım Kezban Roma’da, yine aynı yıl çekilmiş. Yapımcı yine Hürrem Erman. Siyah-beyaz, fakat Avrupa’da geçen Küçükhanımefendi’lerden sonra, bu kez, Kezban Roma’ya gidiyor...

Benim Yeşilçam maceram da başladı başlayacak. Kemal Tahir’in evinde tanıştığım, Adsız Cengâver’in yönetmeni ve senaryo yazarı Halit Refiğ, Türk sinemasının genç senaryo yazarlarına ihtiyaç duyduğunu söylüyor. Halit beye hep sormak isterim, sonradan ne kadar pişman oldu... 15-20 gün sonra birlikte çalışmaya başlamıştık. Yeteneksizliğim, bilgisizliğim gözler önüne serilmişti.

Yapımevi, Erman Film değildi. Fakat bir gün, Erman Han’a uğradık. Senaryoda bir adım yol alamıyorum, ama Halit Refiğ hevesimi kırmıyor, beni yanında çanta gibi taşıyor.

Erman Han’ın en üst katı, Erman Film’in yazıhanesi güzel döşenmişti. Başka bir hava esiyordu burada. Büyük yapımevi nedir, birden fark ediyordunuz. Hürrem Erman, çok zarif, mesafeli, saygı uyandıran bir insandı.

Hem Halit Refiğ’le, hem Atıf Yılmaz’la senaryoculuk oyunum yetmemiş olmalı ki, 1971’de büyük usta Lütfi Ö. Akad’ın çırağıydım. Erman Film için sözüm ona Yaralı Kurt’u yazıyordum. Şimdi sözü, anlatıyı sevgili Rıza Kıraç’a bırakıyorum:

“Hürrem Erman, Lütfi Akad’ın Cüneyt Arkın’la bir film daha yapmasını ister. Akad o günlerde okuduğu Graham Greene’nin A Gun For Hire adlı romanından Cüneyt Arkın için bir film konusu çıkabileceğini düşünür.”
Hatırladığım kadarıyla, Hürrem bey, eski Hollywood yapımı, Green’in eserinden uyarlama bir filmi seyretmiş, Akad’a önermişti. Eserin Türkçesi Varlık Yayınları’nın kitapları arasında. Hürrem Erman’dan konuyu, temayı dinleyen Lütfi bey ise ne kitabı okumuş, ne filmi seyretmişti. Bir yerlerde yazmış olmalıyım; Akad ‘uyarlama’ya bambaşka yöntemlerle yaklaşır, yalnızca tema’yla, izlekle yetinir, bütünüyle ‘özgün’ bir yapı kurardı.

Kıraç devam ediyor:
“Yaralı Kurt adlı senaryoyu yazma işini o günlerde sinemaya yeni bulaşmış Selim İleri’yle yapmaya çalışsa da sonra bu işi tamamen ona bırakır. Fakat sonuç pek parlak olmaz. Yine de Akad, Hürrem Erman’a anlattığında filmin hikâyesini çok beğenir. (...) Ama senaryo pek işe yarar gibi görünmediği için Akad senaryo çalışmak zorunda kalır. (...) Kumbağ’da Yaralı Kurt’un senaryosunu yeniden yazar.”
Düzeltmek ihtiyacını duyuyorum:

Hatırlıyorum’da ve Anılar; Issız ve Yağmurlu’da dile getirmeye çalıştığım gibi, bende derin iz bırakmış eşsiz Akad, senaryo yazarlığı konusundaki bilgisizliğimi daha ikinci çalışma gününde fark etmişti. Yüzüme söylemeyecek kadar ulu gönüllüydü. Usta-çırak ilişkisi öylece başladı. Hayatımın en güzel günleri arasında saydığım bir dönem: Bir yandan Yaralı Kurt yazılıyor, yani Akad yazıyor, bir yandan da senaryo nasıl yazılır, bana öğretiyor. Diyaloglar azdırıyor, bekliyor, okuyor, tartıyor, seçiyor. Sahneler yazdırıyor, bekliyor, okuyor, düzeltiyor, çoğu kez yeniden yazıyor. Diyebilirim ki, Akad sinemada ilk ve tek öğretmenim oldu. O incelikli eğitimden sonra, Zeki Ökten’e Bir Demet Menekşe’yi yazmıştım...
Kıraç’ın kitabının dizininde adım geçmiyor.

Hürrem beyi en son, 1990’ların iyice sonunda, Beyoğlu’ndaki Pamuk Eczanesi’nde görmüştüm. Her zamanki lord haliyle. “Sizin sevdiğiniz sinema bitti” demişti, “o günler...”

Kıraç’ın eseri, çok etkileyici bir sonla noktalanıyor.

Turkish B.O. 2008

Recep İvedik:
Production Cost: Not Declared...
Attendance: 4.301.644
Box office: 30.172.270 YTL
Shows profit

A.R.O.G
Production Cost: 9 000 000 $
Attendance: 3.123.541
Box office: 26.075.580 YTL
(Still in distribution)

Muro
Production Cost: 1.500 000 $
Attendance: 1.909.296
Box office: 15.979.701 YTL
Shows profit

Issız Adam
Production Cost: 1.500 000 $
Attendance: 1.558.393
Box office: 13.979701 YTL
Shows profit

Osmanlı Cumhuriyeti
Production Cost: 2.500 000 $
Attendance: 1.270.935
Box office: 10.474.756 YTL
Shows profit

Mustafa
Production Cost: 1 000 000 $
Attendance: 1.096.363
Box office: 8.487.141 YTL
Shows profit

120
Production Cost: 1.100 000 $
Attendance: 1.033.917
Box office: 5.019.832 YTL
Shows profit

Maskeli Beşler Kıbrıs
Production Cost: 3.800 000 $
Attendance: 960.979
Box office: 6.795.141 YTL
Shows loss

Çılgın Dersane Kampta
Production Cost: Not Declared.
Attendance: 899.314
Box office: 6.314.199 YTL
Not Declared

O... Çocukları
Production Cost: 1000 000 50 000 $
Attendance: 713.546
Box office: 5.307.359 YTL
Shows profit

Ulak
Production Cost: 4 000 000 $
Attendance: 523.745
Box office: 3.983.330 YTL
Shows loss

Avanak Kuzenler
Production Cost: Not Declared.
Attendance: 393.546
Box office: 2.920.448 YTL
Not Declared

Aşk Tutulması
Production Cost: 680 000 $
Attendance: 363.089
Box office: 2.795.904 YTL
Shows profit

Semum
Production Cost: 610 000 $
Attendance: 334.168
Box office: 2.248.907 YTL
Shows profit

Destere
Production Cost: 900 000 $
Attendance: 248.279
Box office: 1.817.115 YTL
Shows loss

Plajda
Production Cost: 450 000 $
Attendance: 214.465
Box office: 1.526.145 YTL
Shows profit

Süper Ajan K9
Production Cost: 1 000 000 $
Attendance: 190.930
Box office: 1.396.035 YTL
Shows loss

Devrim Arabaları
Production Cost: 780 000 $
Attendance: 144.612
Box office: 1.280.382 YTL
Shows loss

Vicdan
Production Cost: 1.100 000 $
Attendance: 157.092
Box office: 1.229.454 YTL
Shows loss

3 Maymun
Production Cost: 2 000 000 $
Attendance: 125.247
Box office: 1.164.662 YTL
Shows loss

Son Ders
Production Cost: 750 000 $
Attendance: 118.845
Box office: 822.961 YTL
Shows loss

Bayrampaşa
Production Cost: 350 000 $
Attendance: 104.976
Box office: 735.296 YTL
Shows loss

Aşkın Dansı
Production Cost: 400 000 $
Attendance: 65.183
Box office: 407.785 YTL
Shows loss

Güneşin Oğlu
Production Cost: 380 000 $
Attendance: 58.135
Box office: 424.669 YTL
Shows loss

Girdap
Production Cost: 410 000 $
Attendance: 48 382
Box office: 324 431 YTL
Shows loss

2008
Turkish Films
Total: 44
Attendance: 20 276 406
Total Box office: 153 872 211 YTL

Foreign Films
Total: 220
Attendance: 15 936 426
Total Box office: 134 737 646 YTL

2007
Turkish Films
Total: 32
Attendance: 11 875 724
Total Box office: 92 333480 YTL

Foreign Films
Total: 206
Attendance: 19 285 976
Total Box office: 149 948 20 YTL

1 YTL = US$ 0.65

Variety Article | Turkish box office is up

Turkish box office is up | Local hits have helped attract private money
By NICK HOLDSWORTH | Fri., Oct. 3, 2008,

As Turkey's Golden Orange Film Festival gets ready to kick off its 45th year, local films are burning up the wickets, with domestic pics set to capture some 50% of the country's box office this year.

A wave of local hits -- dominated by comedies and action movies -- has helped attract private money and investment from TV companies in home-grown product, Turkish film industry professionals say.

Box office figures for 2008 through August show the top six positions all taken by Turkish films, with comedy "Recep Ivedik" at the top of the list, pulling in 4.3 million viewers since its release late February.

"We are witnessing an explosion in the number of films being produced in Turkey," says Ahmet Boyacioglu, chairman of the Ankara Cinema Assn. "Two years ago, a couple of dozens films were produced, last year 43 (were made) and this year already around 60. Currently there are some 30 films waiting to be released, reflecting films from across a range of genres -- comedies, arthouse, personal (auteur) films."

Boyacioglu says it is hard to identify precisely what factors have contributed to the sharp increase in interest among audiences in domestic movies, but notes that institutional and industry investors have been quick to capitalize on it.

"Television channels are increasingly interested in buying films before they are shot, and we even have an example of a single private investor putting up the entire $2 million budget for one film currently in production," Boyacioglu adds.

Market share for Turkish films went from just 13% in 2002 to 51% in 2006, he says. Although the share dipped to 38% last year, latest figures suggest that by year's end the figure will be back up around 50%, with "Recep Ivedik" accounting for approximately 12% of total market share based on an average annual audience in Turkey of 30 million-35 million.

Figures like that are knocking some of Hollywood's best efforts off the charts: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" pulled in just 323,000 viewers.

"It's a disaster for American films. Why the Turkish people have decided to watch more Turkish films over the last six years I don't know, but now anyone with any interest or opportunity in cinema wants to make a film here," Boyacioglu says.

Although many of the blockbuster local films will rarely be seen beyond Turkey's borders -- or outside its large diaspora communities in countries such as Germany -- festival fare is also enjoying a new wave.

Turkish films have been featured heavily in the competition and showcase programs of virtually all European film festivals this year, with Nuri Bilge Ceylan's taking the director prize at Cannes this year for "Three Monkeys."

Other Turkish pics on festival and award radars include "Pandora's Box" by Yesim Ustaoglu; "Milk" by Semi Kaplanoglu; "Autumn" by Ozcan Alper; "My Marlon and Brando" by Huseyin Karabey; and Seyfi Teoman's feature debut "Summer Book."

Deniz Ziya Temeltas, of the Eurasia Production Platform and Film Market -- a professional sidebar that runs during the Eurasia film festival in Antalya -- says local films look likely to remain a force in Turkey for the foreseeable future.

"With the arrival of new festivals, production platforms and markets as well as various new media, there is a question whether the U.S. will be able keep its market share," Ziya Temeltas says. "More and more local productions are airing on primetime TV. ... In Turkey, there is not a U.S. series on a major network in primetime."

Review | Climates

Climates

by John P. McCarthy

posted August 1, 2008 10:00 AM

Changeable weather is nothing compared to the immutability of a human being
Being in love with a narcissist is ultimately boring. Witnessing self-obsession up close might be exciting initially, but eventually the spectacle fails to divert. Once the frisson evaporates, narcissists are impossible to endure; their glaring faults can't be ignored or excused. The viewer experiences something akin to this watching the protagonist of Climates -- a middle-aged professor named Isa, played by writer/director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Fortunately, Ceylan provides compensatory distractions. His carefully structured film is visually and aurally beautiful and amounts to a devastating portrait of a lonely relationship and a chillingly selfish man.

What does Isa bring to the party? He's handsome enough and has a good job teaching architecture at a university in Istanbul. But he's lazy (unable to finish his thesis), perpetually dissatisfied with the weather, immature and prone to stalking. To coin an oxymoron, he's a quiet boor. And this negative judgment has little to do with the rough sex he has with a friend's companion, although that ongoing dalliance is a major sticking point between Isa and his younger girlfriend, Bahar, a television art director portrayed by Ceylan's real-life wife, Minnie Driver look-a-like Ebru Ceylan. We meet the pair in the ruins of a temple near an Aegean resort in southwestern Turkey; we leave them during a snowstorm in the east. In between, they've broken up, and he's retreated further into his apathetic, loathsome self. The film goes from the extremes of summer heat to winter cold, but all the while Isa remains tepid toward Bahar and everyone he encounters. It's unclear whether his sneakily superficial, passive-aggressive personality is supposed to have any broader cultural meaning concerning gender relations.

Climates is spare regarding dialogue and plot, lush when it comes to faces, light and topography. Ceylan's background as an engineer and photographer are in evidence. The sound design is remarkably precise -- you'll hear a cigarette burn and a nut being chewed as if for the first time -- and the high-def cinematography is fabulous both in close-ups and long shots. The tightly rolled film contains no melodramatic filler, and Ceylan's clear-eyed performance is nothing short of brave.

Distributor: Zeitgeist
Cast: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nazan Kesal, Mehmet Eryilmaz, Arif Asci and Can Ozbatur
Director/Screenwriter: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Producer: Zeynep Ozbatur
Genre: Drama; Turkish-language, subtitled
Rating: Not rated
Running time: 97 min.
Release date: October 27

Review | Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul

Crossing The Bridge: The Sound Of Istanbul

by Sheri Linden

posted August 1, 2008 10:00 AM

Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin follows up Berlin fest prize winner "Head On" with this valentine to Istanbul. The city's fusion of East and West, traditional and modern is evident in the assortment of musicians who perform for Akin's cameras. They all make vivid impressions in the exuberant "Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul," but the multi-subject approach dilutes the impact of the film.

German bassist Alexander Hacke, who fell for the Turkish city while recording songs for "Head On," is the tour guide on this musician's-eye view of the metropolis. The scruffy musicologist sometimes sits in with the groups he records, among them psychedelic underground band Baba Zula. More often than not he's beaming from the sidelines, whether at hip-hop artists, rock bands Duman and Replikas, anti-corporate buskers or veteran performers like chanteuse Sezen Aksu, who increasingly blends regional traditions into her pop brew. The marriage of European and Asian influences echoes throughout the film. Composer and onetime movie star Orhan Gencebay (seen in scratchy clips from '70s action flicks) alarmed conservatives when he incorporated Egyptian and Western techniques into the music he plays on the saz, a type of lute. Clarinetist Selim Sesler's reed wails with Romany-influenced plaintive joy, reminiscent of klezmer.

The film touches upon cultural and political issues, not least the Turkish government's recently lifted ban on the Kurdish language. Even so, "Crossing the Bridge" is resolutely celebratory. Varied settings--boat, café, park, ancient spa--provide a rich visual backdrop, and judiciously used vintage clips offer intriguing glimpses of Istanbul through the years. Directed and written by Fatih Akin. Produced by Fatih Akin, Klaus Maeck, Andreas Thiel, Sandra Harzer-Kux and Christian Kux. A Strand release. Documentary. Turkish- and German-language; subtitled. Unrated. Running time: 90 min

Review | Distant (uzak)

Distant (uzak)

by Shlomo Schwartzberg

posted August 1, 2008 10:00 AM

Urban meets rural when two cousins reconnect in modern Istanbul in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's intelligent but dry Cannes award winner. Well-established photographer Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir) leads a prosperous but lonely existence in the city. Enter his newly unemployed village cousin Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak), who wants to sign up on board a ship and sail the world. Mahmut cautions him against false hopes but otherwise doesn't do much to help his cousin, nor does he really want him around. Yusuf, for his part, doesn't respect Mahmut's house rules and friction between the two men quickly comes to the fore. The irony is that both men are more alike than they will admit.

While the two leads richly deserved the Best Actor award they shared at Cannes (posthumously in the case of Toprak, who died tragically in a car accident just after the film's completion), director Nuri Bilge Ceylan fails to build on the emotional undercurrents present in the script. "Distant" actually lives up to its title; it's a muted, uninvolving film. Starring Muzaffer Ozdemir, Mehmet Emin Toprak and Zuhal Gencer. Directed, written and produced by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. A New Yorker release. Drama. Turkish-language; subtitled. Unrated. Running time: 110 min

Review | Head-on

Head-on

by Susan Green

posted August 1, 2008 10:00 AM

The intensity gives way to only brief glimpses of humor or tenderness in "Head-On," as much a cautionary tale about obsession as it is a sociological commentary on the clash of cultures. Fatih Akin's seamless film, which earned a Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlinale, never settles for the ordinary. The 40-year-old Cahit (a mesmerizing Birol Unel) appears to be a hopeless alcoholic bent on killing himself with booze. But unlike Nicolas Cage's over-the-top drunk in "Leaving Las Vegas," this long-haired Turkish immigrant living in Hamburg slowly and subtly peels away layers of anguish.

When an inebriated Cahit smashes his car into a brick wall, he survives but winds up in a mental hospital. His self-pity is interrupted by Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), a presumably suicidal patient who immediately proposes to him. There's plenty of method to her madness. A secret hedonist, she wants to escape the suffocating Middle Eastern code of behavior that her partially assimilated family insists a Muslim girl must follow. If she continues carousing, Sibel risks an honor killing at the hands of her older brother. The perfect solution might be a marriage of convenience to a Turk, who happens to be twice her age, with no romantic or carnal notions about the arrangement. And a woman is always her husband's property in the Old World way of thinking, so the in-laws will butt out.

In return for a loveless wedding, Sibel promises to keep Cahit in beer. At first, the situation seems ideal. She goes out dancing every night and sleeps with a succession of strangers. He drinks and engages in periodic sex with Maren (Catrin Striebeck), a hairdresser who has known him for some time. Naturally, everything changes. That's when the wrenching consequences of their illusions catch up with these tormented creatures. Starring Birol Unel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck, Guven Kirac, Cem Akin, Aysel Iscan, Demir Gokgol and Stefan Gebelhoff. Directed and written by Fatih Akin. Produced by Ralph Schwingel and Stefan Schubert. A Strand release. Drama. German- and Turkish-language; subtitled. Rated R for strong graphic sexuality, pervasive language, some brutal violence and drug content. Running time: 123 min

Review | Times and Winds (Bes Vakit)

Times and Winds (Bes Vakit)

by Pete Hammond
Print Article

posted June 12, 2008 10:21 AM

Erdem's look at life in a Turkish village will please arthouse crowds

Deriving its power and poignancy in small doses rather than from any false sense of drama, this contemplative and quiet look at life filtered through the eyes of three young people in a small Turkish village is an accomplished piece of arthouse cinema that should please discerning audiences in limited runs around the country. Although it may be too slight or even dull for some, the deceptive style employed by its talented writer and director, Reha Erdem, is involving, graceful and always visually compelling. Expect decent box office returns, particularly from aficionados of Turkish cinema.

Times And Winds (Turkish title Bes Vakit) takes place in a beautifully situated (“between earth and sea, rocks and sky”) but poor Turkish village, home to a simple but dedicated breed who make their living off the land and the animals. Their priorities and values seem light years away from most lifestyles we know.

Omer (Ozkan Ozen) and Yakup (Ali Bey Kayali) are best friends who often hang out on rocks in the hills, contemplating their hopes and dreams. Omer goes so far as to wish his father were dead and even shares with Yakup his plans to kill him. Oddly, Yakup begins dreaming about doing the same thing to his dad after catching him spying on the teacher the boy secretly has a crush on.

They are both friends with Yildiz (Elit Iscan), a young girl who tries to follow in her own mother’s footsteps managing her home and looking after her baby brother. Together all three are learning new things and feelings as they are about to embark on their teenage years.

The adults in the film don’t seem as enlightened, or at least as interesting to watch as the younger set, but everyone just seems to be trying to eke out a day-to-day existence in the only kind of world they have ever known.

The times of the title refer to their daily rituals, broken up in five categories including prayer, talk and mundane events. As the director states, the rhythm of time is also the rhythm of the movie; a feat he achieves by simply letting his story breathe and flow on its own accord. Like his previous films, particularly Run, For Money and Mommy, I’m Scared, pacing does not seem to be of great concern to Erdem, a big plus in setting the crucial mood and tone of Times and Winds.

Performances in this unique coming-of-age story are generally fine but, for the most part, don’t offer any big dramatic moments, just nice minimalist acting particularly from the three child actors.

This movie obviously isn’t for everyone, but audiences looking for an antidote to the Iron Man/Incredible Hulk brand of summer fare will find small pleasures and great value in this leisurely, beautifully photographed (by Florent Herry in full 2.35:1 ratio widescreen glory) look at life so remote it could be on another planet.

Distributor: Kino International
Cast: Ozkan Ozen, Ali Bey Kayali, Elit Iscan, Bulent Emin Yarar, Taner Birsel, Yigit Ozsener and Selma Ergec.
Director/Screenwriter: Reha Erdem
Producer: Omer Atay
Genre: Drama
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 111 min.
Release date: June 13

Review | The Edge of Heaven

The Edge of Heaven

by Matthew Nestel
Print Article

posted May 22, 2008 6:20 PM

Heaven makes for an enchanting brew

An ode to youth and homelands, this fictional tale lives up to its searing title. Yeter (Nursel Kose) is a prostitute by day and a mother always. She gambles on a degenerate widowed john who can’t handle his drink. His got-it-together German lit professor son Nejat (Baki Davrak) is well endowed with principal and purpose despite the chaos that comes knocking on his door. Add a couple of doe-eyed females chasing love against all odds, and it all steeps an enchanting brew that holds on the tongue and will draw heaps of folks back to their seats for seconds.

Time is tweaked throughout the film. We begin at the present but work backwards and forwards and then backwards again, only to return to the start. It’s a device that some filmmakers can get too carried away with. Luckily, writer/director Faith Akin lets the storyline and the characters captain this edifying journey involving several concentrically circled plots chaptered by some of their deaths.

It could have been any one of the fleshy call girls standing front and center behind a glass pane along a Hamburg red light district stretch. But Ali (Tuncel Turkiz) saw Yeter, and that was enough. She’s a Turk and so is he. But conversation tickles beyond the same old chitchat, and after a few turns in the sack Ali’s offering her a chance to leave the trick life and live and sleep with him alone. Given the perils of her trade, the Turkish transplant takes the bait.

Meantime in Turkey, her prized rebel daughter Ayten exists under the safe pretense that her mother vends shoes not sex. Seeking asylum from Turkey for her unfavorable political beliefs, she ditches out of town to avoid a fated prison sentence. Soon enough, Ayten sours on the resistance movement and lucks onto a naïve linguistics student at a Hamburg university named Lotte. The two become more than friends and perturb Lotte’s self-righteous mom. Once the law catches up with Ayten, Lotte is forced to abandon the comforts of subsidies. Her mother pulls the plug altogether, tossing her daughter into the throes of survival.

The rest of the film is a sort of collection of chance encounters—some that happen and others that could have happened. Each character, despite the end result, shares the striving for this ultimate oasis. Stumbling on a beggar may change your life for good or worse. A hooker sometimes has more scruples than the lot of goody two shoes. And despite the attraction to denounce parent or child, there is an unbridled sense that a connection is there and must be taken for more than face value.

Narrative is too often discounted for not being real enough to conjure humanity’s discourse. At times, this is fair. Here, the filmmaker took out the tracings of fat and honed in very deliberately on what makes these people tick. The characters and the emotions of the various cities are pinpointed with precision, putting to rest much of the tone-deaf predecessors that attempt the same but riddle with hollowed bullets of thought that just sit like an apple box on the dressed set.

B-roll shots are masterful. Driving along the outskirts of Turkey, there are the screaming skies, the awing sea, the beautiful chaos on city squares and bus roundabouts. Day and night. See an elderly farmer gathering olives and nuts, a saz-playing man on a hill whose notes backdrop the green rolling hills. You get the sense that Akin has stood on the grounds of these places for long lengths and knew the pulse of each because every shot hits.

Words are not always needed, and the writer in Akin let the sounds and visuals make their noises with grace. There is tragedy in this film, and many missed opportunities that could have salvaged a happier end. Ali, the scumbag pop, gets wily with the liquor, and despite a heart attack he manages to land himself in the clink. He even outlives some of the youths in the film. The seed is planted for son and father to reconcile away from Germany, in a remote spot in Turkey. Ayten ventures out to find her mother, and instead finds another unsuspecting guardian.

The film’s focus is a tad obscured by the political injections that make their point and yet there is mistakenly a need to fasten a wider bit to drill it into the heads of the viewer. Much of the “up yours” to bureaucracy is superfluous.

This picture summits difficult terrain. Though uneasy to think about all the frayed ends left here, that’s just what gives it so much oomph. No pretty bows, just a bunch of twisted knots and mangled braids and the sight of it all is just remarkable: Flawed humanity at its best. What’s more, one can comprehend quickly that there is a love for the constantly morphing creature that Europe is, and the filmmaker italicizes this. The clashing stages are distinct, but also share plenty of common bonds. And the characters that dance on them are given license to move and fall as they please. Consider your ticket a passport to shadow this dance.

Distributor: Strand
Cast: Baki Davrak, Nursel Köse, Hanna Schygulla, Tunçel Kuritz, Nurgül Yesilçay and Patrycia Ziokowska
Director/Screenwriter: Faith Akin
Producers: Andreas Thiel, Klaus Maek and Faith Akin
Genre: Drama; German-, Turkish- and English-language, subtitled
Rating: Unrated
Running time: 116 min.
Release date: May 23 ltd.

2008 | Top 20 in Turkish Box Office

Rank Movie | Title | Distributor | Gross Release | Release Date

1 Recep Ivedik Ozen Film $24,632,784 2/22
2 A.R.O.G UIP $14,104,253 12/5
3 Muro: Nalet olsun içimdeki insan sevgisine Ozen Film $7,917,721 12/5
4 Issiz Adam Cinefilm $7,458,692 11/7
5 Osmanli Cumhuriyeti UIP $6,706,849 11/21
6 Maskeli Besler Kibris UIP $5,575,199 1/11
7 Mustafa WB $5,424,054 10/29
8 Çilgin dersane kampta Ozen Film $5,284,100 1/11
9 O... Çocuklari Kenda $4,358,771 5/16
10 120 Ozen Film $4,070,544 2/15
11 Journey to the Center of the Earth Medyavizyon $3,585,149 7/18
12 Ulak UIP $3,120,666 1/25
13 The Dark Knight WB $3,002,678 7/25
14 The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor UIP $2,899,904 8/1
15 I Am Legend WB $2,649,122 1/25
16 10,000 B.C. WB $2,638,274 3/7
17 Saw V WB $2,487,056 10/24
18 National Treasure: Book of Secrets UIP $2,233,999 1/4
19 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull UIP $2,167,823 5/23
20 Hancock WB $2,096,269 7/4

Foreign films in bold

‘A.R.O.G’ breaks new box-office record

‘A.R.O.G’ breaks new box-office record

Comedian Cem Yılmaz’s hit sci-fi comedy “A.R.O.G” broke yet another record on Friday, drawing 2,050,000 filmgoers to theaters across Turkey in its first week, the Turkish movie Web site Sadibey has reported.

“A.R.O.G” now the holds the first week box-office record of all time in Turkish cinema. The Stone-Age comedy, starring, co-written and co-directed by Yılmaz, beat the previous record holder, “Kurtlar Vadisi Irak” (Valley of the Wolves: Iraq), which drew 1,927,752 moviegoers in its first week, when it opened in Turkish theaters in 2006, according to figures posted at www.sadibey.com.

“A.R.O.G” broke another record in Turkey last week when it surpassed the 1 million viewer mark in box office figures just four days after it opened on Dec. 5. The film, shown on 685 screens in 406 movieplexes across Turkey, managed to gain a spot among the top five films in box-office lists last week in Germany as well. It also did well in Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, where it opened the same date it premiered in Turkey, and was screened in four other European countries, including Britain, France and Denmark.

With a budget of over 8 million euros, “A.R.O.G” holds the title of being the most expensive film ever made in the history of Turkish cinema, its producers say. “A.R.O.G” is the follow-up to Yılmaz’s 2004 space comedy “G.O.R.A,” which followed the adventures of Turkish carpet salesman Arif (Yılmaz) in space. Yılmaz plays numerous characters in the new film, as he did in the first one. In this new adventure, Arif is beamed by his nemesis, Commander Logar (also played by Yılmaz), 1 million years back in time, to an earth dominated by Stone Age creatures. Arif quickly makes friends in the Stone Age, but his sole wish is to return to the present and back to his pregnant wife, Ceku (Özge Özberk). To do this, he needs an ultra fast-moving technological breakthrough to build a working time machine. This means bringing his barbarian contemporaries to the present -- or even to an advanced -- technological state in the shortest time possible by racing them through the ages.

Turkish box office is up

Turkish box office is up
Local hits have helped attract private money
By NICK HOLDSWORTH | Variety Posted: Fri., Oct. 3, 2008

As Turkey's Golden Orange Film Festival gets ready to kick off its 45th year, local films are burning up the wickets, with domestic pics set to capture some 50% of the country's box office this year.

A wave of local hits -- dominated by comedies and action movies -- has helped attract private money and investment from TV companies in home-grown product, Turkish film industry professionals say.

Box office figures for 2008 through August show the top six positions all taken by Turkish films, with comedy "Recep Ivedik" at the top of the list, pulling in 4.3 million viewers since its release late February.

"We are witnessing an explosion in the number of films being produced in Turkey," says Ahmet Boyacioglu, chairman of the Ankara Cinema Assn. "Two years ago, a couple of dozens films were produced, last year 43 (were made) and this year already around 60. Currently there are some 30 films waiting to be released, reflecting films from across a range of genres -- comedies, arthouse, personal (auteur) films."

Boyacioglu says it is hard to identify precisely what factors have contributed to the sharp increase in interest among audiences in domestic movies, but notes that institutional and industry investors have been quick to capitalize on it.

"Television channels are increasingly interested in buying films before they are shot, and we even have an example of a single private investor putting up the entire $2 million budget for one film currently in production," Boyacioglu adds.

Market share for Turkish films went from just 13% in 2002 to 51% in 2006, he says. Although the share dipped to 38% last year, latest figures suggest that by year's end the figure will be back up around 50%, with "Recep Ivedik" accounting for approximately 12% of total market share based on an average annual audience in Turkey of 30 million-35 million.

Figures like that are knocking some of Hollywood's best efforts off the charts: "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" pulled in just 323,000 viewers.

"It's a disaster for American films. Why the Turkish people have decided to watch more Turkish films over the last six years I don't know, but now anyone with any interest or opportunity in cinema wants to make a film here," Boyacioglu says.

Although many of the blockbuster local films will rarely be seen beyond Turkey's borders -- or outside its large diaspora communities in countries such as Germany -- festival fare is also enjoying a new wave.

Turkish films have been featured heavily in the competition and showcase programs of virtually all European film festivals this year, with Nuri Bilge Ceylan's taking the director prize at Cannes this year for "Three Monkeys."

Other Turkish pics on festival and award radars include "Pandora's Box" by Yesim Ustaoglu; "Milk" by Semi Kaplanoglu; "Autumn" by Ozcan Alper; "My Marlon and Brando" by Huseyin Karabey; and Seyfi Teoman's feature debut "Summer Book."

Deniz Ziya Temeltas, of the Eurasia Production Platform and Film Market -- a professional sidebar that runs during the Eurasia film festival in Antalya -- says local films look likely to remain a force in Turkey for the foreseeable future.

"With the arrival of new festivals, production platforms and markets as well as various new media, there is a question whether the U.S. will be able keep its market share," Ziya Temeltas says. "More and more local productions are airing on primetime TV. ... In Turkey, there is not a U.S. series on a major network in primetime."

2008 | Turkish Films grab top 10

Total films in release from January 2008 to December 15, 2008...258 (2007: 251)
Share of Turkish films 18.2% (2007: 14.7%) with 47 films released. (2007: 37)

Top 10 Box office (all Turkish [1] films)

1.Recep İvedik
2.AROG[*]
3.Issız Adam[*]
4.Osmanlı Cumhuriyeti[*]
5. Muro[*]
6.Mustafa[*]
7.120
8.Maskeli Beşler Kıbrıs’ta
9.Çılgın Dershane Kampta
10.O. Çocukları

[*] in current release
[1] in 2007 only 5 films in top 10 were Turkish productions.

Three Monkeys| English Press

English

• Screen International, " Three Monkeys", by Jonathan Romney
• Hollywood Reporter, "Three Monkeys", by Peter Brunette
• Hollywood Elsewhere, " Three Monkeys", by Jeffrey Wells
• Variety, " Three Monkeys", by Justin Chang
• Time Out (London), " Three Monkeys", by Geoff Andrew
• Zaman, "I won the bet, Ceylan won the award ", by Olkan Özyurt, interview with actor Yavuz Bingöl
• Time, "Turkish Director Fêted in Cannes, Ignored at Home", by Pelin Turgut
• Chicago Tribune, "'3 Monkeys' at present is toast of Cannes", by Michael Phillips, interview with N.B.Ceylan
• Guardian, "How shoplifting in Brixton led to a film career", by Geoffrey Macnab, interview with N.B.Ceylan
• Cinematical, "Cannes Review: Three Monkeys", by Kim Voynar
• Looking Closer Journal, "Three Monkeys", by Kenneth R. Morefield
• The Lumiere Reader, "Gloom Merchant: Three Monkeys", by Steve Garden
• The Back Row Manifesto, "Three Monkeys", by Tom Hall
• Hindustan Times, "Of Unusual Suspects", by Rashid Irani
• NDTV Movies, "Three Monkeys", by Kuhu Tanvir
• Business Standard, "Better than a close-up", by Neha Bhatt
• Chicks on Fire, "Three Monkeys", by Aurelle
• Zaman, "The road to perdition", by Emine Yıldırım
• Dear Cinema, "Kolkata Film Festival: Day 3", by Sumit Dasgupta
• Daily News (Egypt), "Turkish director experiments with 'Three Monkeys'", by Joseph Fahim
• Dear Cinema, "Nuri Bilge Ceylan: Turkey’s new master of cinema", by Jugu Abraham
• Film Making Blog, "Unique View: Three Monkeys", by Alper Cagatay

Source NBC Films December 2008

Trailer | Gunesi Gordum by Mahsun Kirmizigul

SYNOPSIS FROM BOYUT FILM A film dedicated to peace and children... A mountain village perched on the border between two worlds... The home, for generations, of the Altun family... But with the introduction of forced migration policies, the family finds itself wrenched from the village. This is the story of their relocation from east to west. Haydar and Isa Altun arrive with their respective families in Istanbul, where they decide to stay. But Davut Altun, his wife and children set their sights further afield and travel on to Norway... Spanning a period of 25 years, the film recounts the experiences of the three families as they struggle to find their feet in alien surroundings. It is a film that condemns all of discrimination or otherization and argues that war,fighting and contempt for anyone unlike oneself are the very problem itself... The story that unfolds in the film is a story that belongs to us all, to this country, to Turkey... Boyut Film | Tel: 0212 2704830 | Fax:0212 2703754 OFFICIAL SITE http://www.gunesigordum.com