the lamb kuzu turkey, germany 2014, 85’, colour director-script Kutluğ Ataman cinematography Feza Çaldıran editing Ali Aga music Can Erdoğan-Sus cast Nesrin Cavadzade, Cahit Gök, Mert Taştan, Sıla Lara Cantürk, Nursel Köse, Taner Birsel, Güven Kıraç, Emel Göksu, Erdal Yıldız, Şerif Sezer production-distribution The Institute for the Readjustment of Clocks, Kutluğ Ataman, Fabian Gasmia, Henning Kamm, Ömer Rüştü Paşa Sok. No: 7 Nur Apt. D: 9 Teşvikiye Şişli 34365 Istanbul [email protected] Eastern Anatolian village tradition requires Kutluğ Ataman (Istanbul, 27-year-old Medine to serve oven-roasted lamb 1961) won rapid acclaim at her five-year-old son, Mert’s circumcision and awards for his first feast. Poor but determined, Medine puts feature, Serpent’s Tale. the family to work cutting branches to earn Lola+Bilidikid opened something towards the price of the sheep they the Panorama section need. Ismail, Medine’s unemployed husband, of the 49th Berlinale, won the Best Film award at is worried by his wife’s assertive behaviour. New York’s The New Festival and the Jury Special Envious of the attention Mert gets, his elder Prize in Berlin. 2 Girls confirmed his position in the sister, Vicdan, makes Mert believe that if a sheep top rank of Turkish filmmakers, national and inter- isn’t found, he will be slaughtered instead. national prizes. Journey to the Moon is a full-length film which, in its installation version, forms part of A singer-prostitute arrives in town. The village Ataman’s artwork series, ‘Mesopotamian Dramatur- leader finds Ismail a job at the slaughterhouse. gies’. Screened at festivals including Istanbul and Friends there lead Ismail astray, and his weakness London, it was shown on the occasion of Ataman’s makes it even harder to buy the sheep. Medine appointment as laureate of the 2011 Routes Award. persists. Mert has his own motivation to search Ataman also reaches audiences through museums for an animal, with a determination that rivals and galleries with his work in the contemporary art his mother’s. Refusing even her grandmother’s world. support, Medine receives help and solidarity from an unlikely source. filmography 1994 Karanlık Sular Serpent’s Tale 1998 Lola+Bilidikid 2005 İki Genç Kız 2 Girls 2009 Aya Seyahat Journey to the Moon 1 seaburners kumun tadı turkey 2014, 89’, colour director Melisa Önel script Feride Çiçekoğlu, Melisa Önel cinematography Julian Atanassov, Meryem Yavuz editing Özcan Vardar music Erdem Helvacıoğlu cast Mira Furlan, Timuçin Esen, Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, Mustafa Uzunyılmaz, Sanem Öge, Edanur Tekin, Hakan Karsak, Selen Uçer production-distribution Bulut Film, Yamaç Okur, Aslı Erdem, Melisa Önel, Fecri Ebcioğlu Sok. 14/4 Levent Istanbul T +90 212 287 7076 [email protected] | www.bulutfilm.com Hamit drives back and forth between Istanbul’s Melisa Önel (Izmir, 1980) slums and a destitute border village close to the completed her Master’s city. He works for Ali, a charcoal dealer-cum- degree in Film Studies human trafficker, carrying charcoal one way at Istanbul Bilgi Uni- and illegal immigrants the other. The young and versity after studying timid Mehmet helps them both out and often International Relations finds himself caught in the middle of their power at Tufts University. A filmmaker and photographer, struggles. Hamit feels stuck in the desolate vil- Önel is a member of the photographers’ initiative, lage. Being subordinate to Ali and sharing a RecCollective. In the past two years, her work has rundown room with Mehmet are not what he ex- been shown at many international exhibitions. Her pected of life. He tried to escape once, but failed first short film, Omega Fox (2007), was selected for to achieve the ‘dream life’ and this only intensi- the Hisar Short Film Festival, a collection of the 10 fies his frustration. His only comfort is an older best short films of the year in Turkey. Her medium- woman, Denise, a foreign botanist who works at length documentary, Me and Nuri Bala (2009), won the local research centre. They meet secretly in a Best First Documentary award at the 46th Antalya cottage by the sea and make love to the crashing Film Festival. Seaburners is her debut feature film. of the waves. Denise is suspicious of Hamit but asks no questions, and Hamit doesn’t tell much filmography anyway. But the sea is unforgiving and pressure 2007 Omega Tilki Omega Fox (short) builds as a new group of refugees arrive and are 2009 Ben ve Nuri Bala Me and Nuri Bala (doc.) unable to leave the village. Their relationship is buffeted like plants in the harsh coastal wind. And then, one a stormy night, Hamit decides to change his destiny. 2 the blue wave mavi dalga turkey, germany, the netherlands, greece 2013, 97’, colour director Zeynep Dadak, Merve Kayan script Zeynep Dadak, Merve Kayan cinematography Daniël Bouquet editing Çiçek Kahraman music Kim ki o cast Ayris Alptekin, Onur Saylak, Barış Hacıhan, Albina Özden, Nazlı Bulum, Begüm Akkaya production Bulut Film, Fenafilm distribution Bulut Film, Yamaç Okur, Fecri Ebcioğlu Sok. 14/4 Levent Istanbul T +90 212 287 7076 [email protected] | www.bulutfilm.com Deniz and her friends have much to tell to each Merve Kayan (1981) other after a summer apart. The senior boys have studied cinema at Deni- suddenly grown tall; new albums have been re- son University in Ohio. leased; the natural gas pipeline has finally made Besides making films its way to their home town, Balıkesir. Yet at the and videos, she has col- same time, not much has changed. Adults remain laborated with various busy with their professional lives, and Deniz and filmmakers and visual artists in New York and Istan- her friends are still confused about their univer- bul as an editor and director of photography. She sity plans. Amid the worries of their daily rou- earned an MFA in Visual Arts at the University of tines, they make plans for the future, but the California, San Diego. challenges of being a teenager weigh heavily. Deniz grows closer to her schoolmate, Kaya; at Zeynep Dadak (Balıkesir, 1978) studied film. A doc- the same time, she develops an interest in the toral candidate at the New York University Department school counsellor, Firat. She longs to prove that of Film Studies, she has worked as a writer / editor for what she is feeling is not the ‘usual’. Deniz wants Altyazı, Turkey’s leading monthly film magazine. She has a life that is different from the ideals of her been directing and producing short films, documenta- friends and the one her parents are living. A song ries and music videos since 2001. The Blue Wave is their nobody has heard of, a hopeless love, solitude... first feature film. Ankara instead of Istanbul, social sciences over natural sciences... A different world, but where awards exactly? Best Debut Film, Best Script, Best Editing Antalya 3 come to my voice were dengê min turkey, germany, france 2014, 105’, colour director Hüseyin Karabey script Hüseyin Karabey, Abidin Parıltı cinematography Anne Misselwitz editing Baptiste Gacoin music Serhat Bostancı, Ali Tekbaş, A. İmran Erin cast Feride Gezer Melek Ülger Muhsin Tokçu S. Emrah Özdemir production-distribution Asi Film, Emre Yeksan, Elmadağ Cad., 4/5 34373 Şişli Istanbul T +90 212 225 3844 [email protected] In a snowy Kurdish mountain village in the east Hüseyin Karabey (1970) of Turkey, an old woman, Berfé, and her young has been making films granddaughter, Jiyan, are troubled when Temo - since 1996. His involve- Berfé’s son, Jiyan’s father and the only man of ment in the democracy the household - is arrested with the other men movement of the 1990s in the village. The local gendarmerie accuses and background as a them of hiding guns and makes it known that documentary filmmaker have influenced the style none of them will be released until their families and the content of his subsequent work. Despite the hand over the guns. The trouble is, there are no controversial subjects of many of his earlier docu- guns, at least not to the knowledge of these two mentaries and short films, Karabey’s work has still blameless women. Desperate and alone, Berfé reached audiences through a number of alternative and Jiyan set off in search of a gun to rescue channels. My Marlon and Brando, his first dramatic their beloved Temo. But how will their innocence feature, was selected for the 37th Rotterdam Inter- and naivety overcome a system that threatens to national Film Festival. The film screened at 36 in- draw them into the sullied world of an intermi- ternational film festivals and won numerous awards. nable conflict? Come to My Voice is his second feature. selected filmography 1999 Boran (short) 2001 Sessiz Ölüm Silent Death (docudrama) 2004 Pina ile Bir Nefes Pina Bausch, Istanbul, “Breath” (documentary) 2008 Gitmek My Marlon and Brando 2010 Hiç Bir karanlık Unutturamaz No Darkness Can Make Us Forget (short) 2011 Unutma Beni İstanbul Do Not Forget Me Istanbul 4 the blue man mavi adam turkey 2013, 81’, colour director Utku Çelik script Utku Çelik cinematography Erkan Sönmez editing Fatih Çilingir cast Alex Dawe, Derya Aslan, Sarper Semiz, Aydın Orak production-distribution Çelik Film, Utku Çelik, Hüsrev Gerede Cad. 102/4 Teşvikiye 34365 Istanbul T +90 212 236 1293 [email protected] An archaeologist investigating mass graves dur- Utku Çelik (1983) grad- ing the Iraq War wakes up in a basement, unable uated from the Film & to remember how he got there. The man must Drama department of piece together the past of the mysterious man Kadir Has University in who brought him there -and find out who the 2012 with an MA in Pro- pregnant woman is being held with him- if he duction.