12-12-2011

FESTIVALS: Turkish Films at Festival on Wheels

By FNE Staff

    {mosimage}The 17th edition of Turkey's Festival on Wheels (www.festivalonwheels.org) concluded the second segment of its traveling film screening on 12 December 2011 and now moves on to Izmir for the final stop, running 14-18 December. As always, a section devoted to new Turkish films, presented by their stars and directors, is a centerpiece of the festival.

    The section line-up includes: Onur Ünlü's The Utterly Tragic Story of Celal Tan and His Family (Celal Tan ve Ailesinin Aşırı Acıklı Hikayesi), which won three awards, among them Best Film, at this year's Adana Golden Boll Festival; The Future Lasts Forever (Gelecek Uzun Sürer), the second film by Özcan Alper, in which he reflects on the recent history of southeast Anatolia; Nuri Bilge Ceylan actor Muzaffer Özdemir's directorial debut, Home (Yurt); What Remains (Geriye Kalan), the film that won first-time director Çiğdem Vitrinel Best Director award at Antalya; Yüksel Aksu's second feature Ecotopia (Entelköy Efeköy'e Karşı); and the Murat Saraçoğlu directed In Flames (Yangın Var).

    In conjunction with the festival screenings, workshops are taking place in parallel to panel discussions on the Festival with themes of ‘The Arab Spring' and ‘Class and Cinema.' Additionally, the Script Workshop: Characters, Dialogue and Acting focuses on character portrayal, dialogue and the relationship between director and screenwriter. Distinguished academic and critic Mieke Bal is meeting with audiences in a master class on the theme of What Culture Silences after the screening of his latest film, A Long History of Madness, co-directed with Michelle Williams Gamaker.