TURKISH CINEMA 2008 Feature Films THREE MONKEYS ÜÇ MAYMUN Turkey, France, Italy, 2008, HDCAM/35mm, 104’, colour director Nuri Bilge Ceylan script Ebru Ceylan, Ercan Kesal, Nuri Bilge Ceylan photography Gökhan Tiryaki editing Ayhan Ergürsel, Bora Gökşingöl, Nuri Bilge Ceylan cast Yavuz Bingöl, Hatice Aslan, Ahmet Rıfat Sungar, Ercan Kesal, Cafer Köse, Gürkan Aydın production Zeynep Özbatur, Zeyno Film (Turkey), Pyramide Films (France), BIM Distribuzione (Italy) world sales Eric Lagesse, Pyramide International 5, rue du Chevalier de Saint George 75008 Paris T: +33 1 4296 0220 F: +33 1 4020 0551 [email protected] A family dislocated when small failings blow up into extravagant lies battles against the odds to stay together by covering up the truth... In order to avoid hardship and responsibilities that would otherwise be impossible to endure, the family chooses to ignore the truth, not to see, hear or talk about it. But does playing Three Monkeys invalidate the truth of its existence Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul in 1959. He studied filmmaking for two years at the Mimar Sinan University, after receiving his B.S. from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at Bosphorus University. His first short filmCocoon (1995), was screened at the 48th Cannes Film Festival. He won many national and international awards for his feature debut the Small Town (1997) and for his next film Clouds of May (1999). Distant (2002) with which he won the Grand Jury Prize Award at Cannes, is the third feature film he directed. His fourth feature Climates was selected for Competition in Cannes and won the Fipresci Prize. filmography 1995 Koza Cocoon (short) 1997 Kasaba The Small Town 1999 Mayıs Sıkıntısı Clouds of May 2002 Uzak Distant 2006 İklimler Climates 1 120 Turkey, 2008, 35mm, 120’, colour director Murat Saraçoğlu, Özhan Eren script Özhan Eren photography Mustafa Kuşçu editing Kemalettin Osmanlı, Ali Üstündağ music Özhan Eren cast Özge Özberk, Burak Sergen, Cansel Elçin, Emin Olcay, Demir Karahan, Ahmet Uz, Oytun Öztamur, Alican Yılmaz production Özhan Eren distribution Mehmet Soyarslan, Özen Film, Atıf Yılmaz Cad. No: 11 Beyoğlu Istanbul T: +90 212 293 70 70 F: +90 212 244 28 51 [email protected] www.ozenfilm.com.tr In 1914, the World War I broke out in Europe. The war spread to Turkey and the Russians attacked Eastern Anatolia in the region of Erzurum. In Van, a city rife with rebellion, the gendarme division left the city for the struggle with the Russians on the Caucasian front, a struggle between life and death…. In December 1914, as the Battle of Sarıkamış began, the fighting intensified and one day the gendarme division found its ammunition exhausted. There was ammunition in Van, albeit a minimal amount; they wanted to send it to the soldiers at the front, but not even the crudest of carts was left in the city. Anyone who could hold a rifle was fighting at the front. As a result, children between the ages of 12 and 17 volunteered. They immediately undertook preparations and 120 children loaded ammunition on their backs in the freezing month of January 1915 and began to march towards the snowy mountains. Murat Saraçoğlu was born in Istanbul in 1970. He studied at the Radio and Television Department of Istanbul University. He has directed several television series, as well as writing a book of short stories for which he won a prize. Özhan Eren was born in Istanbul in 1959 and graduated from the Cartography Department of Ankara University. He began his film career as a composer and has won many awards. He has also released three albums. 2 ARA Turkey, 2007, 35mm, 89’, colour director-script Ümit Ünal photography Gökhan Atılmış editing Çiçek Kahraman music Özgür Yılmaz (Kaptanizade Ali Rıza, Erik Satie) cast Erdem Akakçe, Betül Çobanoğlu, Serhat Tutumluer, Selen Ucer, Suna Selen production Ümit Ünal, Mustafa Uslu Dijital Sanatlar distribution Ersan Çongar, Bir Film, Ayhan Işık Sok. Özverim Apt. 32/1 Beyoğlu Istanbul T: +90 212 251 82 04 F: +90 212 251 82 95 [email protected] www.birfilm.com awards Special Jury Prize, Best Actor Istanbul In Turkish, ‘ara’ can variously mean ‘gap’, ‘break’, ‘space between’, ‘distance’, or ‘search!’. Ara is the story of four people who love and cheat each other at the same time. They hurt each other but can’t break up; they are caught between the past and their stormy relationships, between Istanbul and the ‘homes’ they can’t get back, between their lies and innermost secrets, between east and west. They are stuck in the ‘space between’. The action unfolds in a single location, a flat, and the camera leaves only once. But various other visuals - from commercials and TV series for instance - sneak into the film. Spanning around 10 years, the story is told in intervals between these visuals. Ümit Ünal was born in 1965. He has written the screenplays for eight feature films. His debut feature as a director was Nine (2002), which won many awards on the international film festival circuit and was Turkey’s official foreign language film selection for the Academy Awards in 2003. He wrote and co-directed his second feature film Istanbul Tales in 2004. Ara is his third film as director and he is currently working on his fourth, Shadowless, an adaptation of the novel by Hasan Ali Toptaş. He has also published one book of short stories and two novels. filmography 2002 9 Nine 2004 Anlat Istanbul Istanbul Tales 3 BROKEN ANGEL MELEĞİN SIRLARI Turkey, USA, 2008, 35mm, 105’, colour director Aclan Bates Büyüktürkoğlu script Leslie Bates Büyüktürkoğlu photography Neil Lisk music Kemal Günüç editing Bayard Stryker, Radu Ion cast Nehir Erdoğan, Jay Karnes, Patrick Muldoon, Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu, Nilüfer Açıkalın production-distribution Leslie Bates Büyüktürkoğlu, Kevin Corchiani, Chris Moore, Cihangir Safyurtlu, 12454 Sarah St. Studio City, CA, USA T: +90 538 840 00 51 [email protected] www.brokenangelfilm.com Sermin spends her savings to send her daughter to Los Angeles, the City of Angels, hoping that Ebru will earn one of two things that will save her future: either the ability to speak English or a handsome – and rich – American husband. But the life of an immigrant in America is not as it seems – nor are the “beautiful people” Ebru meets – and she very quickly finds that the facade is not only deceiving, it’s dangerous and drags her down to a place that she had never seen on “Friends” or “The Young & the Restless.” Ebru struggles to find a way to fit her own cultural values into her new life, but finds they clash more than she expected. And her inability to communicate with the people around her creates an ever-widening gap between her and her new home. Aclan Bates Büyüktürkoğlu graduated from Hacettepe University Conservatory of Performing Arts Theatre Department and received an MA in Directing for Theatre and another in Theatre Education. He was a leading actor for the Turkish National Theatre in Ankara playing major roles. He moved to California and completed an MFA in Film Directing at American Film Institute. Broken Angel is his first feature. 4 DOT NOKTA Turkey, 2008, 35mm, 89’, colour director-script Derviş Zaim photography Ercan Yılmaz music Mazlum Çimen cast Mehmet Ali Nuroğlu, Serhat Kılıç, Settar Tanrıöğen, Şener Kökkaya, Mustafa Uzunyılmaz, Nadi Güler, Numan Acar production Marathon Film, Sarmaşık Sanatlar distribution Sarmaşık Sanatlar, Silahşör Cad. Madenci Apt. 20-22, D 4, Bomonti, Şişli Istanbul T: +90 212 219 53 35 F: +90 212 219 53 34 [email protected] award Best Director Istanbul Derviş Zaim’s latest film recounts the tale of a man tormented by a crime he once committed and now anxious to redeem himself. Prevailed upon by a friend, Ahmet is reluctantly involved in the theft of an invaluable antique Quran. However, this act pushes him into unwanted and unfamiliar territory. The action of the film, which advances along an axis of crime and punishment, organically incorporates one of Turkey’s traditional art forms, calligraphy, into the story. Strikingly, calligraphy marks both language and content in the film’s structure as a single, fluid shot. Dot follows on the heels of Waiting for Heaven, a film woven around the traditional art of miniature painting. Derviğ Zaim (1964) graduated from Bosphorus University with a degree in manage- ment and went on to earn an MA in film and cultural studies from the University of Warwick in the UK. The first feature he wrote and directed, Somersault in a Coffin, won several national and international awards. He followed this up with the award- winning Elephants and Grass and Mud, which won an award at Venice. He currently teaches film at Istanbul’s Bilgi and Bosphorus Universities. filmography 1996 Tabutta Rövaşata Somersault in a Coffin 2000 Filler ve Çimen Elephants and Grass 2003 Çamur Mud 2004 Parallel Yolculuklar Paralel Trips (documentary) 2006 Cenneti Beklerken Waiting for Heaven 5 ETCETERA ETCETERA VESAİRE VESAİRE Turkey, 2007, 35mm, 108’, colour director Tunç Başaran script Roksen Lülü, Orhan Lülü photography Alper Derli editing Aytekin Birkon music Malabadi Band cast Rutkay Aziz, Roksen Lülü, Aliye Uzunatağan, Bülent Kayabaş, Taner Barlas, Eser Ali production Tunç Başaran distribution Roksen Lülü, Erguvan Sok. Enis Apt. No: 21/6 Kalamış Kadıköy Istanbul T: +90 535 771 71 25 F: +90 212 211 29 20 [email protected] Arda is a famous author. One day, his doctor tells him that he has cancer. The unexpected news comes as a shock and forces him into introspection. He opts out of big city life and travels to the Aegean region of Turkey. At the same time, an invitation to a conference in a neighbouring town persuades him to go to the lovely summer resort of Marmaris.