Menderes Samancılar

Set against the backdrop of construction activity promising to fill in the empty spaces of the urban landscape with entirely new neighborhoods, a story unfolds of an aging construction worker who, unlike his peers, has to drop all plans for the future after being diagnosed with a malignant tumor. This self-assured debut contemplates the dignity of the individual within the context of modern Turkish society.

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In this film that wavers unsteadily between a comedy and a tragedy, Murtaza (Mujdat Gezen) is a deluded security guard whose fanatical reverence for "duty" verges on the psychotic. He is incapable of seeing himself for what he is -- and as a consequence he is often the unwitting and unknowing brunt of jokes. His wife and daughters are painfully aware of his shortcomings, but they generally suffer in silence. One of the daughters ends up working in the factory to help the family out financially, and when Murtaza finds her sleeping on the job one night he hits her so hard she eventually dies from the blow. Though that is not the end of it, by any means.

No synopsis available yet.

Story of a village girl who transforms into a courageous and independent woman and fights against the men who destroyed her life.

No synopsis available yet.

Haunted by his dark past, a man takes a job as a fire warden in a remote tower in the wilderness, and is inexorably drawn towards a young woman with a terrible secret of her own.

In "The Bride with the Black Veil" (1975), director Süreyya Duru continues to focus on social issues, exposing problems of the peasants and feodal relations.

In the southeast region of Turkey, the Kurdish family of Altun lives in a small mountainside village plagued by a 25-year war that makes their daily lives a hellish struggle. As the war intensifies, the family is forced to migrate west to the city of Istanbul.

Ayşe (47) lives with her brother Rıdvan (38), who has down syndrome, on the outer edge of the ever-growing Istanbul, where the face has begun to change. Their father has been waiting for death in a hospital for a long time. When Ayşe receives a marriage proposal from an international truck driver who stops by the gas station where she works, she makes a choice between her destiny and her dreams.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

Based on real events, this story traces a young district governor’s moral awakening as he confronts a powerful landowner in rural Adana. What begins as a routine bureaucratic act soon turns into a struggle to shield villagers from exploitation, greed, and the threat of malaria.

The film is based on 'Fikrimin Ince Gulu', a novel by Adalet Agaoglu, which depicts a first generation gurbetci/guest-worker returning home. It covers his land journey in short bursts from Germany to the Turkey's west border - and extensively from thereon to his village close to Ankara - capital of Turkey. He begins his journey purchasing a second hand yellow Mercedes - possibly his first car - using his meager savings working as a laborer. Offering deep insight into the mind of a manual laborer Bayram (Ilyas Salman) making his first trip back home, resorting to flashbacks in highlighting Bayram's motivation and experiences from his childhood right up to the events leading to his first departure from Turkey to Germany.

Two Turkish brothers find themselves on opposite sides of the political fence. When one of the brothers is murdered, the boys' father suspects that his surviving son was instrumental in the killing. Celebrated film director Elia Kazan returns to his acting roots in a key supporting role.

Mavi Sürgün is a fictionalized account of one period of the life of a Turkish journalist who was condemned to exile for an article he wrote in 1925. He turned his punishment into a reward by creating a little paradise in what is today the holiday resort, Bodrum. In fact he is considered by some to be the first ecologist. The film concentrates on this latter aspect of his character and through flashbacks portrays the inner turmoil of a man who is trying to come to terms with his past. The slow pace is somewhat of a drawback, the flashbacks are often confusing and the protagonist is not always very convincing. But the photography of the country side is exceptional Kenan Ormanlar and the short appearance by a very theatrical Hanna Schygulla of Fassbinder fame adds a little spice to the drama.

In the 1930s in Konya, Turkey, the famous belly dancer Cemile dreams of going to the big city. Murat falls in love with her.

Tomix, Tam-Tam and Mützen-Jacky are children of the street earning their living with music. They travel from one town to the other with their instruments to perform in the streets and in restaurants. Making music is the only thing they have ever learned. They are led by old Mahmud, an alcoholic. He is the one who concludes the business and takes in the money.

Riza is a truck driver. When his truck breaks down, Riza can’t work and his livelihood is threatened. Using every possible means, he desparately tries to drum up the money for the repairs. And this includes being prepared to commit a brutal crime.

Laborers of the film industry have decided to march against the new censorship act in 1977. 60 years of silence in cinema was going to be interrupted for good. From actor/actresses to set workers, 400 women and men have started a 5-day-long walk to Ankara. A walk that was conceived with supportive but surprised looks of the public. The documentary tries to picture this forgotten but historical event in the light of the 100th year of cinema.

A dwarf and a transvestite, both are excluded from the society and doomed to exist at night. Their lives overlap in a strange encounter and this becomes the start of their friendship.

Nuri, whose sole aim is to return to Istanbul by selling a garden left to him by his father, has an interesting encounter with his old friend Sabri in the city. Sabri, however, has just smashed his boss's head in due to sudden psychological trauma he suffered at the government office where he works, and things start to get even more complicated. As Nuri prepares to return to Istanbul, he receives news that his friend Sabri has committed suicide in prison. Now Nuri has a purpose. He decides to uncover the reasons behind his old friend Sabri's mysterious murder and suicide.

During his military service in 1990's Southeast Turkey, Ahmet experiences something that will haunt him for the rest of his life. In 2013, when the chaotic days of Gezi Park protests in Istanbul start, Ahmet learns he has a brain tumor. Just as the lines between truth and fiction, the dream and the reality start to get blurred for him, he meets Serap; the love of his life. But time is ticking and his painful past weighs down on him every day, suffocating him with the same question: Who is the child that plays hide and seek with him?

Tuncel Kurtiz is an international actor who has worked in various countries such as Turkey, Germany, and Sweden throughout his fifty-year career. He has starred in countless works in cinema, stage and television and has received many awards, including the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. He has directed two documentaries and a feature-length fiction film. Kurtiz's acting performance ranges from popular melodramas to major plays such as Mahabharata (Peter Brook), encompassing many different genres and styles. As an actor, Kurtiz believes in the creative power of chaos: 'Chaos is the most difficult to create / Not a false chaos / Many things come out of chaos'. Through testimonies, film excerpts, and archive footage, this documentary reflects Tuncel Kurtiz's diverse body of artistic work in all its dimensions for the first time. In the background of this detailed portrait are Turkey's turbulent years and the reality of exile.