Don’t Forget the Baklava : Turkish Cinema Festival
From my own experience attending many a Toronto Film Festival, I know that whittling down my selection to 20 often relied on country of film origin. Many favorite film countries globally were a fairly reliable list: Italy, Poland, Japan, South Korea, India, Russia, Germany, and the US. Though I saw films from other countries, those always got top billing. One that never made my list was Turkey. I didn’t even know there was a film industry in Turkey. Now, I can laugh at my mistake! The upcoming films in the first edition of the Corne d’Or Festival have me rethinking if the hunk of land at the end of the silk road might be coming into its own cinematically.
The Crone d’Or festival intends to celebrate 100 years of Turkish cinema with a line up of recent films from Turkey.
Nobody’s Home
Barely 30 years old, director Deniz Akcay is turning heads as a hot young director. Akcay’s Nobody’s Home is a portrait of a family in tragedy.
When family patriarch dies, the remaining family members cope with the crisis as best as they can. The son turns to sex and drugs, while the older daughter flees to marriage. Described as immensely powerful and having universal messages, this film makes it clear that emotion doesn’t need to clear customs to crosses international borders.
Thou Gild’st the Even
Winner of the Istanbul Film Festival, Thou Gild’st the Even (Sen Aydinlatirsin Geceyi) by Onur Unlu tells the story of a town where its inhabitants have some X-Men-like powers.
One inhabitant sees through walls, another moves objects without touching them, still a third freezes time. Yet for all their powers, the men and women of this town suffer ordinary problems. At its heart is a young man who has lost his mother and siblings in a fire and lives with his father. As he muddles his way through life in beautifully shot scenes in black and white, the drama becomes comedy and the comedy drama.
If you like Onur Ulu’s film, his most recent film, Let’s Sin is about an imam who investigates a shooting in his mosque.
Majority
Winner of multiple Golden Oranges in 2010 and best film at the Venice International film festival, Majority is about a young man who goes for a Kurdish girl as a way to rebel against his father. The film is known for being humorous, charming, ad simple.
The Corne d’Or festival takes place from October 23-28. Check WEBSITE for details.
