Golden Boll FF 2012: Festival winners

24-09-2012

Golden Boll FF 2012: Festival winners

By Alin Tasciyan

Voice of My Father by Orhan Eskikoy and Zeynel Dogan

ADANA: Voice of My Father by Orhan Eskikoy and Zeynel Dogan has won the Best Film and Best Screenplay awards at the 19^th Adana Golden Boll International Film Festival.

This minimalist picture tells the story of estranged members of a Kurdish family. The story touches on sectarian violence in Turkey in 1978.

Jury Chairman Ferzan Ozpetek said My Father’s Voice was his favourite movie of the festival and that he hadn’t been able to sleep after watching it, one indication of the film’s forceful message.

The prestigious Yılmaz Guney Award, now in its second year, went for the first time to a female director’s work: Present Tense by Belmin Soylemez, which also won the SIYAD – Film Critics’ Association Award. Pelin Esmer’s Watchtower garnered five awards including the Best Director.

The Jury Special Award went to the documentary Know My Name by Kristen Stevens and İnan Temelkuran. The subject of this documentary, the Junior European Women’s Wrestling Champion cadet, Evin Demirhan, also received a special mention from the jury.

The jury did not find any of the films worthy of the Best Music Award and decided to give the 15, 000 lira to Demirhan herself instead.

The 19^th Adana Golden Boll International Film Festival this year sawone of the best national competition line-ups in the history of Turkish film festivals. The 14 titles in the competition were the main focus of the attention at the event. Both the jury and film professionals stressed the high quality and variety of styles in the national competition.

The line-up included the latest works by pioneers of new Turkish cinema, such as Yesim Ustaoglu (Somewhere in Between), Zeki Demirkubuz (Inside), Dervis Zaim (Cycle) and Reis Celik (The Night of Silence).

They continue to inspire the younger generation with their innovative styles and ‘guerilla-style’ methods of low budget filmmaking, despite the fact that their recent the jury preferred young talent to established names in almost every category.

This year six titles out of fourteen were by female directors, the highest number of films ever selected for a national competition and three of them collected top prizes. Belmin Soylemez won the Yılmaz Guney Award with her first feature Present Tense which was also in competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival. Pelin Esmer was named Best Director for Watchtower which also screened inToronto FF. Kristen Stevens shared the Special Jury Prize with her husband İnan Temelkuran for the documentary Know My Name.

The festival also reflected another important trend in Turkish cinema, with six young actresses making their debuts in leading roles of whom were praised for their performances. Nilay Özdemir was chosen Best Actress for her part in Watchtower. Neslihan Atagül won the Turkan Soray Promising Young Actress award with Somewhere in between by Yesim Ustaoglu. Sanem Oge in Present Tense, Dilan Aksüt in The Night of Silence, Elifcan Ongurlar in Where the Fire Burns Ferzan Ozpetek praised the overall quality of casting and acting in the films.

In the past many festival juries have complained about the lack of women in Turkish cinema so it was good to see this development.

The films selected for the 19th Golden Boll mainly focused on women’s stories and the controversial themes of discrimination in Voice of My Father; unemployment in Present Tense , sexual liberty in Somewhere in between, child brides in The Night of Silence, rape in Watchtower and honour killings in Where the Fire Burns.

BEST FILM: Voice of My Father by Orhan Eskikoy and Zeynel Dogan

YILMAZ GUNEY SPECIAL PRIZE: Present Tense by Belmin Soylemez

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE: Know My Name by Kristen Stevens and İnan Temelkuran

BEST DIRECTOR: Pelin Esmer / Watchtower

BEST SCREENPLAY: Orhan Eskiköy / Voice of My Father

JURY MENTION: Evin Demirhan for inspiring Know My Name

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER: Ozgur Eken for Watchtower

BEST ACTRESS: Nilay Erdonmez for Watchtower

BEST ACTOR ex aequo: İlyas Salman for Night Of Silence and Engin Gunaydin for Inside

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS ex aequo: Lacin Ceylan for Watchtower and Nihal Yalcin for Inside & Somewhere In Between

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Menderes Samancılar for Watchtower

BEST EDITING: İnan Temelkuran and Kristen Stewens and Oner Biberkoku for Know My Name