23rd International Istanbul Film Festival

This year the International Istanbul Film Festival, organised by the Istanbul
Foundation for Culture and Arts, will take place between 10 – 25 April. The
festival will present 203 films to cinema lovers.

14 films will compete in the “International Competition” and 12 in
the “National Competition” of the 23rd Istanbul Film Festival. (Details of the
National Competition below)

The “Tributes” section will feature a selection of works by Bahram Bayzai,
Werner Herzog & Klaus Kinski, Ken Russell and the eminent Turkish director
Ömer Kavur. There will also be a selection of 8 films shown in memoriam of
John Cassavetes.

The Festival program also includes 15 films within the “Young Stars of the
World Cinema” section, 30 within the category “From the World of Festivals”
and 15 in the provoking “Mined Zone” section. This year the “Cult Figure”
section will feature 4 films of Marco Ferreri. Every year the International
Istanbul Film Festival emphasises a different country’s recent contribution to
the world of cinema within the section “A Country – A Cinema”. This year, the
focus is on a larger scale, covering the Latin American countries with a
selection of 19 contemporary films. “From the World of Animation” section will
focus on animated shorts from Cuba.

The Festival will also present the “Trilogy” of Lucas Belvaux and “The Blues –A Musical Journey”, a project of Martin Scorsese. One of the surprises of
this year will surely be to discover the favourite films of Theo Angelopoulos.
Angelopoulos chose 5 of his most favourite films of all times for the Istanbul
Film Festival.

The special screenings of “A Woman of Affairs” accompanied by orchestra
and “Nosferatu” by piano will be other highlights of this year.

The other sections of the 23rd International Istanbul Film Festival
are “Midnight Screenings”, “Documentaries” and “Cinema, the Mirror of Our
Times”.


TURKISH PANORAMA
2003 - 2004


Neredesin Firuze? (Where’s Firuze?) by Ezel Akay
2004, 135’, Colour
Hayri and Orhan are two unsuccessful music producers who are in huge debt,
after failing with every album they have produced. One day, they think they
found the singer of their life, Ferhat, who will lead them to the top, of
course, if they can raise the money to release the album… Suddenly, a rich,
mysterious and decisive woman, Firuze, comes to their office. She says she saw
Ferhat on a TV show and wants to invest in their company. She gives some
orders, makes several phone calls and somehow disappears… Because of the
pressure of surrounding debtors, they all begin to seek Firuze desperately, to
get her magic touch.

Ýnat Hikayeleri (Tales of Intransigence) by Reis Çelik
2003, 90’, Colour
This film is probably the first example of an attempt to carry the tradition
of storytelling into cinema as it is. Shot with local people of Çýldýr, a
small town in East Turkey; Tales of Intrasigence is an improvisation of many
stories on the word “intransigence”. A minibus was the new rival of Daþo the
sledger. The sledger claimed that when he takes a short cut over the frozen
Lake Çýldýr, the minibus would have no chance beating him because it won’t be
able to go over the frozen lake. But the minibus had another plan to beat his
rival. The film tells the interwoven story of the the rivalry between the
sledge and the minibus in parallel to the different stories of the passengers…

Ýnsan Nedir ki? (What’s a Human Anyway? ) by Reha Erdem
2004, 126’, Colour
(Premiere)
The film begins with Ali’s accident. Ali has lost his memory. With Ali’s
confusion, all the characters of the story find themselves in a state of
chaos: this being the chaos of daily life, of life itself. The mystery of a
precious ring passing from one to another with each claiming to be the owner,
the distant story of a robbery, and a mock police investigation add even more
flavor to the story. But there is a parallel story within the film. This is
the story of the human body... A memory woven by fears, weaknesses and desires
and a fragile body made up of flesh, blood and bones...

Vizontele Tuuba by Yýlmaz Erdoðan
2003, 111’, Colour
The story takes place in the Southeast of Turkey in a small fairy-tale town
far away from everything in 1980. The whole country is in political chaos.
Librarian Güner Sernikli is a government official who has been banished to
this far away city. Everything starts taking an absurd route and the Sernikli
family arrives exactly during these days in the city. Their daughter Tuba is
probably the most beautiful “thing” that has ever come to the city. The
Sernikli family comes to the city like a gift package in the summer. Güner
brings wisdom; Tuba brings beauty, innocence and personifies "love". The box- office winner “Vizontele Tuuba” is directed by and stars the popular TV
comedian, Yýlmaz Erdoðan.

Bekleme Odasý (The Waiting Room) by Zeki Demirkubuz
2003, 94’, Colour
Ahmet is a film director who wants to make a film about Dostoyevsky’s classic
novel “Crime and Punishment”. Meanwhile, he is trying to find somebody who
will play Raskolnikof. Finally, Ahmet decides to give the part to the young
thief who tried to break into his house. However, he has no idea where to find
this young man… “The Waiting Room” will also compete in the international
competition.

Metropol Kabusu (The Nightmare of Metropol) by Ümit Cin Güven
2003, 83’, Colour
In his second feature, Ümit Cin Güven turns his camera on to the world of the
snatch-thieves who live as outcasts in big cities and whose dreams are to
establish better means of living. Mazlum is the son of a poor family
immigrated to Istanbul from the East. After his father’s death, he starts
looking for a job to support his family but fails miserably. He meets Þahin
who leads a life as a snatch-thief. Þahin decides to teach Mazlum the tricks
of snatching, but his past will begin to haunt him on an ordinary day of
metropol.

Okul (The School) by Yaðmur & Durul Taylan
2004, 97’, Colour
Gökalp is in love with his fellow school friend Güldem. He tries to tell about
his love to her. However he is nothing more than a platonic love. One day he
leaves a letter and commits suicide. A year after his death, strange things
start to happen. Gökalp starts taking revenge. The notion of horror has never
been a popular theme in Turkish cinema. Therefore Okul is an important step in
Turkish mainstream cinema, bringing a new way of looking at cinematic themes.
Durul & Yaðmur Taylan’s preference of telling horrible and fantastic stories
in cinema has given birth to Okul.

Karpuz Kabuðundan Gemiler Yapmak (Boats out of Watermelon Rinds) by Ahmet
Uluçay
2004, 98’, Colour
(Premiere)
In his debut feature, Ahmet Uluçay tells the story of Recep and Mehmet, two
village boys who love movies. This feature has its roots in the
writer/director Ulucay's own childhood. The story takes place in Tavþanlý, a
small Turkish town, in the late sixties. The film is not only about the boys'
cinematic experiments and dreams, but also about their first experiences of
work and love. The cast is comprised entirely of the local people of Tavþanlý,
the site of almost all the locations in the film.

Bulutlarý Beklerken (Waiting for the Clouds) by Yeþim Ustaoðlu
2004, 92’, Colour
(Premiere)
A moving friendship between Ayþe, an elderly woman and Mehmet, an 8 year old
boy set in the Blacksea region of Turkey. In trying to make Ayþe forget the
painful loss of her sister, Mehmet uncovers her dark secrets veiled for more
than fifty years and in doing so, he also learns the hidden history of his
homeland. Waiting for the Clouds raises questions about “who we are”
and “where we belong,” as it digs deeper into the intrinsic universal human
feelings of love, guilt, fear and sharing.

Ýnþaat (Under Construction) by Ömer Vargý
2003, 108’, Colour
Ali and Sudi who work at a building site, as a result of bad luck or fate, end
up being grave diggers and fake prophets. Things get mixed up when a bunch of
murderers along with their victims arrive at the construction site. “Under
Construction” is a tragicomic story in which ordinary people become heroic and
evil is innocent. The borders betwen the notions of innocence, crime, love,
hate, revenge and treachery become bleak in a shabby construction site.

Kleine Freiheit (A Little Bit of Freedom) by Yüksel Yavuz
2003, 98’, Colour
Set in Hamburg, “A Little Bit of Freedom” tells the unusual story of the
friendship between two young men. Baran is a Kurd whose relatives have helped
him to come to Germany after the death of his parents. His asylum application
was rejected and he survives by running errands for a Turkish fast-food
restaurant, which take him from the finest apartments to the lowest clip
joints - confronting him with the district’s many realities. Not until Baran
encounters the seventeen-year old Chernor - also an illegal and stateless
immigrant – does his life gain impetus. The two are drawn together. But while
Chernor tries to finance his future by dealing drugs, Baran’s past catches up
with him…

Çamur (Mud) by Derviþ Zaim
2003, 98’, Colour
Memories, horrors of war, ancient legend bearing statues and miraculous clay,
capable of unique healing powers, are buried in a tract of mud in the salt- water lake in Cyprus. Surrounding -or even inside and under- the mud the
story about Ali, Temel, Halil and Ayþe takes place. These four Turkish friends
live with the hope to reconcile with the past in Cyprus, still divided. Zaim
explores the idea of illness and mud as a metaphor. In the film, mud
symbolizes both good and bad.