Discover Turkish cinema at India Habitat Centre

Company Brief

New Delhi, February 13, 2012

Turkish Culture and Tourism Office, in collaboration with Habitat Film Club, is organising a Turkish Movie Festival at India Habitat Centre to promote Turkish Films to Indian audiences and at the same time bring them closer to Turkish culture.

The movie festival will showcase the works of some of the most prominent Turkish movie artists and critically acclaimed directors like Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The festival will be held at the India Habitat Centre from February 13 to February 14, 2012 where well acclaimed Turkish movies will be screened.

Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture that has flourished over the years. Yesilcam ("Green pine"), a name synonym to the Turkish films industry comes from Yeşilçam Street in the Beyoglu district of Istanbul, where many actors, directors, crew members and studios have established base. Yesilcam experienced heyday during the 1950s-1970s, when 250-350 films were produced annually. However, during the seventies, the industry suffered as the small screen entertainment made way in.

Yesilcam has seen a revival since 2002, having produced critically acclaimed movies such as Uzak which was selected for the Cannes Films Festival in 2003, Babam ve Oglum and Propaganda. Turkish films attract millions of spectators and have topped the blockbuster lists, often surpassing foreign films in terms of ticket sales. The distribution of these films is mainly handled by foreign companies such as Warner Bros and United International Pictures.

The movie lovers can get their free passes from the Turkish Embassy, New Delhi.

The schedule

February 13, 2012

1) Movie : Autumn

Director: Ozcan Alper

Show Time : 18.45 pm

Award : Special jury Prize (Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland,2008), (Netpac Jury award, Eurasia Film Festival, 2008),

Siyad- (Turkish Film Critics Association Award)

Movie Brief: Set in 1990's where Yusuf, the protagonist returns to attend his sick mother in a mountainous village near the Black Sea after 10 years of imprisonment for anti-government activities as a student. On returning his home he meets with his childhood friend, Mikail. As autumn slowly gives way to winter, Yusuf and Mikail go to a tavern where Yusuf meets Eka, a beautiful georgian prostitute. Love becomes a final desperate attempt to grasp life and get over solitude. For a man who has nothing to look forward to, there lurks the bitter deception of a shattered socialist dream.

2) Movie : Egg

Director : Semih Kaplanoglu

Show Time: 20.30 pm

Award : Golden Tulip Award, Istanbul International Film Festival, 2008

Golden Orange , Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, 2008

Movie Brief: Yusuf, the poet who is aged between 35 and 38 years returns to his childhood hometown after a long gap following his mother's death. His ancestral house is in a very neglected and crumbling state. Here he meets Ayla, a young girl, who is a distant relative living with his mother for last five years. Her presence in the house alleviates the emotions

evoked by death of his mother. The protagonist finds it difficult to cope with the small town life away from the hustle –bustle of the big city, Istanbul. However he is re-enchanted by the staid rhythm of the small town. On the day he is due to return to Istanbul, he finds himself obliged to perform the sacrifice his mother had been prevented by death from fulfilling.

February 14, 2012

1) Movie: Distant 

Director: Nuri Belgi Ceylan

Show Time : 18.45 pm

Award: Cannes Film Festival ,2003

Best Film, Cinemaya Film Festival, India, 2003

Movie Brief: Mahmut, a 40 year old independent photographer, is a village boy who made good for himself professionally in the big city Istanbul. After his wife leaves him, he falls into an existential crisis. Soon, his cousin Yusuf, who has to leave his native village after a local factory closed down, joins him in Istanbul. But there is a divide between them. While Mahmut has already adjusted himself to the big city life, Yusuf, his cousin, is yet to get rid of his village lifestyle and so he feels lonely in Istanbul, where he becomes nervous and squeamish because of his hygienic habits. Moreover, he is desperate to make a living as he has a sick mother back home and has to support her somehow. How Yusuf bears out the trouble times and how Mahmut helps his cousin keep his conscience is what the film is about.

2) Movie: Milk

Director : Semih Kaplanoglu

Show Time: 20.30 pm

Award :Fipresciani Award, Istanbul International Film Festival

Movie Brief: The movie is about a High school graduate Yusuf with a passion in life to write poems. When he is not on his poetic pursuits, he sells milk in the company of his childhood sweetheart, Zehra. Neither his poems get printed in some of the obscure literary journals, nor does the rapidly falling price of the milk improve his condition in life. If this is not enough, he finds out that Zehra is carrying on a secret affair with the town's station master.

Both his sweetheart's betrayal and the uncertain future that stares him as he steps into adulthood makes him disconcerted.

For further information, please contact:

Adfactors PR

Arvind Rajamani

Mobile: 9810970024

E-mail: arvind.rajamani@adfactorspr.com