G.O.R.A.

Duvara Karşı

(Head-On)

Kebab Connection

Paralel Yolculuklar

(Parallel Trips)

İnat Hikayeleri

(Tales of Intransigence)

Thursday, 09/15

5:00 PM

128 minutes

Director: Ömer Faruk Sorak

Friday, 09/16

5:00 PM

121 minutes

Director: Fatih Akın

Saturday, 09/17

5:00 PM

96 minutes

Director: Anno Saul

Sunday, 09/18

5:00 PM

120 minutes

Directors: Derviş Zaim, Panicos Chrysanthou

Sunday, 09/18

7:30 PM

88 minutes

Director: Reis Çelik

 

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G.O.R.A.

Arif is a carpet salesman, tour guide, and travel agent who is obsessed with UFOs. Ever the businessman, he stages a series of fake UFO sightings (most of which involve a ceramic dish held up against the horizon), and taking full advantage of technology, “captures” them on film for local tabloids. Ironically, one day he is abducted by real UFOs and taken to the planet G.O.R.A. While Arif's primary goal is to escape, he finds himself waging a war against Logar, the human-hating commander of the alien army who wants to take control of the planet and enslave the human race. With his strong desire for power, coldhearted Logar is making plans to marry Ceku, the beautiful daughter of G.O.R.A.'s president. Luckily, Arif is not the kind to easily accept captivity or defeat. W ith the help of his wannabe Bob Marley friend and an android named 216, Arif manages to save the planet from imminent disaster, and of course, get the girl.

Starring and written by Cem Yılmaz, and directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak ( Vizontele), G.O.R.A . is much more than your typical comedy. While parodying blockbusters like Star Wars and The Matrix , the film smartly mixes in cultural references that give this comedy a very Turkish twist. The film is also the first of its kind in the Turkish film industry. Coming a long way from films like Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves the World) , the film was shot using HD technology and the post-production process was carried out in a digital atmosphere aiming to reflect the results of combining the real surroundings with two and three dimensional effects. In order to create the set, an imaginary planet was built inside the Antalya Film Studios, with construction carried out in seven different factory plants.

Ömer Faruk Sorak

Ömer Faruk Sorak was born in Ankara in 1964 , and graduated from the Journalism School of Ankara University. He started his career as an assistant cameraman working at Turkish National Radio and Television (TRT). He worked as a cameraman in documentaries and TV dramas such as Kurtuluş (Salvation) and Yayla Türküsü (Song of the Plateau) . In 1995, he resigned from TRT and started working as a free-lance director. In 1997, he launched his own production company, Böcek Yapım. The company produced many successful commercials, music videos, television programs, documentaries and movies. He has worked with top musicians such as Teoman and Grup Gündoğarken, and won a music video award from Kral TV. He was the visual director for Mustafa Altıoklar's Asansör (The Elevator). Sorak first achieved commercial success with Vizontele , which he co-directed with Yılmaz Erdoğan.  

Filmography

2001 Vizontele (with Yılmaz Erdoğan)

2004 G.O.R.A.

From Atilla Dorsay

Surprise! We have a sci-fi parody!

G.O.R.A.

The most expensive, most ambitious, most delayed (more than two years!) most gossiped about, most anticipated and most promoted film of recent Turkish cinema, G.O.R.A. is an exceptionally successful comedy that delivers high-quality, laugh-out-loud comedy from start to finish.

This film is a parody, which is a very rare genre in Turkish cinema. The few examples of parody in Turkish film history include Arabesk (Arabesque) , which is a satire of old Yeşilçam (the Turkish equivalent of Hollywood ) clichés, Amerikalı (The American), which makes fun of the foreign blockbusters of the early 90s and Kahpe Bizans (Perfidious Byzantium ) , which pokes fun at Turkish period pieces. With a nod to the great Sadri Alışık, one can think along the lines of Turist Ömer Goes to Space, not earlier Turkish sci-fi attempts like the cult-fave Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (The Man Who Saves the World) .

The story starts when con man and carpet dealer Arif is abducted by aliens and taken to the planet G.O.R.A. The scene is then set for the film to take on the science-fiction genre with humor stamped with a classic Cem Yılmaz attitude. The audience will burst into laughter as Arif introduces G.O.R.A.'s inhabitants to rakı , belly dance, Turkish machismo, and Beyoğlu slang. But to say that the film is a prolonged Cem Yılmaz show or comedy sketch would be a disservice to the screenplay, Ömer Faruk Sorak's energetic direction, the extraordinary supporting cast, and the well-executed and timed special effects. I especially liked the performances of Rasim Öztekin, Ozan Güven, and Özkan Uğur.

This is a highly successful and entertaining film that doesn't compromise quality in trying to capture a large audience – don't miss it!

G.O.R.A.

2004, 128 minutes

35 mm, color

Turkish with English subtitles

Directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak

Screenplay by Cem Yılmaz

Cinematography by Veli Kuzlu

Edited by Çağrı Türkkan, Mustafa Preseva

Music by Ozan Çolakoğlu

Produced by Necati Akpınar, Nuri Sevin

Featuring Cem Yılmaz, Özkan Uğur, Erdal Tosun, Şafak Sezer, Cezmi Baskın, İdil Fırat

Engin Günaydın, Muhittin Günaydın, Özge Özberk, Ozan Güven

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Duvara Karşı/Gegen die Wand/Head-On

Charged with sex, drugs, and palpable chemistry between stars Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli, Duvara Karşı (Head-On), received international critical acclaim for its gritty portrayal of the relationship between two troubled Turks living in Hamburg . Sibel and Cahit meet in the unlikely setting of a mental institution, where they both end up after unsuccessful attempts at suicide. After her failed episode, Sibel decides that marriage to a Turk is the only thing that can save her from the prison of her devout, conservative family. Reluctantly Cahit agrees to Sibel's sudden proposal of marriage, perhaps not so much as to save her, as to do something meaningful in his own life. And while Sibel throws herself into Hamburg 's nightlife and limitless sexual opportunities, Cahit slowly falls in love with her. A sudden explosion of jealousy results in a violent death, and the couple is forcibly separated. While both Sibel and Cahit are deeply wounded and fragile, the plot twists that ensue take them on new journeys, to new terrain, and toward disparate futures. All the while, director Fatih Akın explores the slippery slope of identity and cultural pride, while eliciting utterly spellbinding performances from his two leading actors. Cutting from shots of the two drinking rakı and savoring Turkish fare like dolma to the two dancing and screaming “punk is not dead” in Cahit's wreck of an apartment, Akın captures the many dimensions of hyphenated nationalities, as well as the rage and euphoria of living dangerously.

Critics are calling Duvara Karşı a realistic look at modern-day German-Turkish relationships and a serious glimpse into the daily confrontations between traditional Islamic values and Germany's second generation of Turkish descent, the children of the guest workers who came to help revive the German economy in the late 60s and early 70s.

“'Head-On' may offend those who endorse cultural relativism, no matter how noxious its consequences, or forget that freedom from religion is as essential as freedom of religion. Mr. Akin's commitment to his characters is uncompromising, as is his humanity, which makes a mockery of the kind of politically correct pieties that often plague stories about cultural outsiders. Unlike, say, Ken Loach in his last film, the nauseatingly smug 'A Fond Kiss', Mr. Akin doesn't presume to know how to tie up religious, cultural and sexual differences in a neat package… Despite the tears, the blood and the booze, 'Head-On' is a hopeful film, if for no other reason than Cahit and Sibel can't be sized up or pinned down, their troubles filed under immigration and assimilation. Their tribulations are at once specific and universal, by turns grimly funny and darkly ironic. Set principally against the grubby environs of working-class Hamburg , in dives and derelict apartments, the film has a terrific sense of place. The city's grubbiness works a vivid contrast to the visions of Turkey that flicker throughout the film. Istanbul looks beautiful, but then so, too, does Cahit's wreck of an apartment, where anarchy and the freedom it promises linger as stubbornly as the smell of stale beer and cigarettes.”

Manohla Dargis, The New York Times Film Critic

Fatih Akın

Fatih Akın was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at the Hamburg College of Fine Arts in 1994. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin (You're The One!) , which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, Weed (Getürkt ), received several national and international festival awards. His first full-length feature film, Kısa ve Acısız won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno International Film Festival, and the Bavarian Film Award for Best Young Director in 1998. Short Sharp Shock was followed by the road movie Temmuzda (In July), and the emigration drama Solino . His latest feature, Duvara Karşı ( Head-On) , won top honors at the Berlin International Film Festival, marking the first time in 18 years that a German entry has taken home the Golden Bear for Best Film. His latest documentary, Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul , was presented in the Cannes Film Festival out of competition this year.

Filmography

Getürkt/Weed (short)

Kısa ve Acısız/Kurz und Schmerzlos/Short Sharp Shock

Denk ich an Deutschland - Wir haben vergessen zurückzukehren/I Think About Germany - We Forgot to Go Back (documentary)

2000 Temmuzda/In July/Im Juli

2002 Solino

2004 Visions of Europe (segment)

2004 Duvara Karşı/Gegen die Wand/Head-On

2005 Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul (documentary)/ İstanbul Hatırası (belgesel)

From Fatih Özgüven

Duvara Karşı/Head-On

Head-On is a blast-against-the-wall as its original German title Gegen die Wand promises. The wall in question is the Turkish-German community in Berlin and the characters are its third generation members, young people searching for a way out of the traditional existence suffocating them; finding themselves up against a wall. For Sibel, a young Turkish girl who wants to escape the confines of traditional family values, the solution is a faked marriage with Cahit, an older, totally estranged Turkish man, a long time resident of Berlin , a bachelor, a bohemian and a perfect cynic. Nevertheless, blood being thicker than water, Fatih Akın's film has its roots in the melodramas of the golden era of Turkish film (Yeşilçam), and cynicism and deceit soon give way to hopeless passion. The girl leaves for ‘the City', Istanbul , where lie her roots and where she intends to live out her unhappiness; all that blood, sweat and tears. Inevitably the man follows. Duvara Karşı is a Turkish melodrama updated with just the right touch of timeliness and with a lot of Turkish music and some Turkish cuisine thrown in, spices and all. Fatih Akın, whose earlier German films (especially Short Sharp Shock ) were energetic, vibrant studies of the conditions of the Turkish diaspora in Germany , extends the pain and passion to his homeland and discovers that one may not after all be able to escape one's roots, both literally and metaphorically.

Duvara Karşı/Gegen die Wand/Head-On

2004, 121 minutes

35 mm, color

German and Turkish with English subtitles

Written and directed by Fatih Akın

Cinematography by Rainer Klausmann

Edited by Andrew Bird

Music by Klaus Maeck

Produced by Stefan Schubert, Ralph Schwingel

Featuring Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Sitriebeck, Güven Kıraç, Meltem Cumbul, Cem Akın, Aysel İşcan, Demir Gökgöl, Mehmet Kurtuluş

Festivals and Awards

2005 Göteborg Film Festival ( Sweden )

2005 Goya Awards ( Spain ): Best European Picture

2004 Berlin Film Festival ( Germany ): Golden Bear, FIPRESCI Competition Film Award

2004 Cannes Film Festival ( France )

2004 International Kino Pavasaris Film Festival ( Lithuania )

2004 Nuremberg Turkey - Germany Film Festival: Best Actor (Birol Üner), Best Actress (Sibel Kekilli)

2004 German Film Awards (Germany): Best Picture, Best Director, Best Leading Actress (Sibel Kekilli), Best Leading Actor (Birol Ünel), Best Cinematography

2004 Seville Film Festival (Spain ): Audience Award

2004 European Film Academy Awards: Best Film, The Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Director

2004 Film+2004: Best Editing

2004 Brothers Manaki International Film Festival (Macedonia ): Golden Camera 300

2004 German Camera Award (Germany): Best Feature Film

2004 Guild of German Art House Cinemas (Germany): Gold German Film

2004 German New Faces Award (Germany ): Best Actress (Sibel Kekilli)

2004 Oslo Films from the South (Norway): Best Director

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Kebab Connection

Young Turkish immigrant İbo idolizes Bruce Lee and wants to be the director of the first German kung-fu film. Since his ambition is rivaled only by his lack of experience, he has to begin on a small scale. He sets out to make a commercial spot for his uncle's kebab joint, all the while trying to prove his skill at making martial arts films. The commercial turns out to be a raging success, and everything on İbo's horizon looks bright – until his German girlfriend tells him she is pregnant. The thought of İbo having a child with a gavur (unbeliever) infuriates his father, and İbo finds himself out on the street having managed to anger both his family and his girlfriend. His uncle promises to help him patch things up in return for another commercial. But when İbo's second spot results in a fiasco, he becomes desperate and agrees to make a commercial for a Greek restaurant run by his uncle's worst enemy. Once the mafia gets involved, İbo can finally put his kung-fu talents to the test. An inspired example of the ethnic comedy genre, Kebab Connection takes a satirical turn, moving away from the often heavy-handed, moralistic treatment of the German-Turkish problem.

Anno Saul

Anno Saul was born in Bonn and studied at the Munich Academy of Philosophy. He focused on directing from 1985 to 1990 at the Academy of Television and Film, Munich and made his first TV film Entführung für Anfänger in 1987. His short film Unter Freunden received the Max Ophüls Prize in 1991. He made his feature film debut with Grüne Wüste , which won the Audience Award at the Cinequest Film Festival in San José , California . Kebab Connection is his second feature film.

Filmography

1987 Entführung für Anfänger (TV)

1990 Unter Freunden (short)

1996 Und morgen Fängt das Leben an (TV)

1997 Alte Liebe, Alte Sünde/Old Love, Old Sin (TV)

1997 Zur Zeit zu Zweit (TV)

1997 Flirt Mit Folgen/Blind Date (TV)

1999 Grüne Wüste/Green Desert

2002 Die Novizin (TV)

2004 Kebab Connection

 

Kebab Connection

2004, 96 minutes

35 mm, color

German with English subtitles

Directed by Anno Saul

Screenplay by Fatih Akın, Ruth Toma, Jan Berger, Anno Saul

Cinematography by Hannes Hubach

Edited by Tobias Haas

Music by Marcel Barsotti

Produced by Ralph Schwingel and Stefan Schubert

Featuring Nora Tschirner, Denis Moschitto, G ü ven K ı ra ç , Hasan Ali Mete, Sibel Kekilli, Adnan Maral

Festivals and Awards

2005 Brooklyn International Film Festival (USA)

2005 Festival of German Cinema ( Spain )

2005 Raindance East Film Festival ( U.K. )

2005 Festival of German Films ( Australia )

2005 Febiofest ( Czech Republic )

2005 Turkish-German Film Festival (Germany)

2005 Berlin International Film Festival (Germany)

2005 Göteborg Film Festival ( Sweden )

2005 Tromso International Film Festival (Norway)

2005 Max Ophüls Film Festival ( Germany )

2004 Lünen Film Festival ( Germany )

2004 Hofer Film Days ( Germany )

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Paralel Yolculuklar/Parallel Trips

Cyprus is the divided east-Mediterranean island that has been a flashpoint between Greeks and Turks for almost half a century. In this touching documentary, Greek director Panicos Chrysanthou and Turkish director Derviş Zaim recount the human dramas that unfolded during the war of 1974, and the legacy that remains today from both sides of the conflict: sullen widows whose husbands fell victim to massacres, orphans who find solace in singing in the bi-communal choir, and veterans who have maintained their zeal for life despite being burdened by harrowing disabilities. In a period when the efforts to solve the Cyprus issue have reached their apex, Paralel Yolculuklar ( Parallel Trips) stands as a moving document whose common perspective can only help to heal old wounds. Zaim says: “We know we can live together, but we still have to ask why we did this to each other."

 

Derviş Zaim

Derviş Zaim was born in 1964 in Cyprus . He graduated from the Economic and Administrative Sciences Department of Boğaziçi University in 1988, and also holds a graduate degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Warwick, England. He began working in film in 1991 with the experimental video Kamerayı As (Hang the Camera) , followed by the TV documentary Rock around the Mosque. Between 1992 and 1995, he wrote, produced and directed numerous television programs. In 1995, his first novel, Ares Harikalar Dünyasında (Ares in Wonderland) won the prestigious Yunus Nadi Literary Award in Turkey . One year later, Tabutta Rövaşata (Somersault in a Coffin), which marked Zaim's debut as a feature film director and screenwriter, received the Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Editing awards in the Antalya Film Festival . The film also won numerous prizes at international film festivals, bringing Zaim critical acclaim as a first time director. He repeated the same success with his next feature film, Filler ve Çimen (Elephants and Grass). Çamur ( Mud) was screened in the Counter Currents section of the Venice Film Festival and won the UNESCO Award.

Filmography

1991 Kamerayı As (kısa)/Hang the Camera (short)

1993 Rock Around the Mosque (documentary)

1997 Tabutta Rövaşata/Somersault in a Coffin

2000 Filler ve Çimen/Elephants and Grass

2003 Çamur/Mud

2004 Paralel Yolculuklar (belgesel)/Parallel Trips (documentary, with Panicos

Chrysanthou)

Panicos Chrysanthou

Panicos Chrysanthou was born in 1951, in Kythera , Cyprus , and graduated from the University of Athens with a joint degree in literature and philosophy. He worked as an assistant director and executive producer in Greek and Cypriot films before beginning to make his own films, which he not only directs but also produces. In 1997, Chrysanthou became one of the two Cypriots, along with Niyazi Kızılyürek, to have received the prestigious Abdi İpekçi Peace Award for his film, Our Wall. The award is presented every two years by a joint Greco-Turkish committee to politicians, artists, and academics from Turkey and Greece that have contributed toward increased understanding between the two peoples. Chrysanthou is also a renowned film critic and curator.

Filmography

1993 Our Wall

1996 The Footprints of Aphrodite

1997 Studio

2002 Sylikou

2002 Our Country

2002 Paralel Yolculuklar (belgesel)/Parallel Trips (documentary, with Derviş Zaim)

Paralel Yolculuklar/Parallel Trips

2004, 120 minutes

Digital, color

Turkish and Greek with Turkish and English subtitles

Directed by Derviş Zaim, Panicos Chrysanthou
Screenplay by Derviş Zaim, Panicos Chrysanthou

Cinematography by Feza Çaldıran, Andras Gero

Edited by Berke Baş, Hallosi Lazslo

Music by Mete Hatay

Produced by Derviş Zaim, Panicos Chrysanthou

Festivals and Awards

2004 Bodrum International Documentary Film Festival ( Turkey )

2004 International Istanbul Film Festival ( Turkey ), Cinema, the Mirror of Our Times

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İnat Hikayeleri / Tales of Intransigence

 

This improvised film made by a film crew of two: The director and an actor; in collaboration with members of a village community, may be the first of its kind. It tells of the rivalry between two forms of winter transport: the horse-drawn sleigh which can take the short cut over the frozen lake and the red minibus which needs to be more devious to beat it's rival. While the race goes on other tales of intransigence are told: 'Wishbone', 'Five Straws One Broken Heart' and 'Saho, the Swindler'.

 

From Charlie Cockey (Emerging Mavericks /New Visions)

Coming from a land of bards and minstrels, Tales of Intransigence is a celebration of the timeless art of storytelling.

A winter contest between a horse-drawn sleigh and a new, bright-red minibus, as they race between two villages on the borders of a frozen lake, is the framework on which the tales are hung. As the stories unfold, the passengers in the minibus, the sleigh, and the film audience itself, are enthralled and drawn as participants into the tales. The stories, all with the common theme of intransigence, range from brilliantly embellished folktales of dueling minstrels to a deliciously played out shaggy dog joke.

There is only one professional actor in the film. The rest are all people from the region, all intimately familiar with the tradition of communal participation
in storytelling. Almost completely improvised, the film merges narrative, documentary and even experimental filmmaking to create something completely
unique—both incredibly ancient and totally fresh and new. With a visual flair and directness redolent of Paradjanov, this is a film to relish, and enjoy, one you will want to see more than once.

İnat Hikayeleri / Tales of Intransigence

Turkey-Germany 2003 / 90m / English subtitles

Producer: Reis Çelik, Adil Kaya, Politic RH
Filmverleih, Interforum

Director: Reis Çelik

Editor: Ogün Aydonat, Ekrem Çelik

Writer: Reis Çelik

Cinematography: Reis Çelik

Cast: Tunçel Kurtiz, Sabri Tutal, Kemal Gültekin

Country: Turkey

Language: Turkish

Film Info: Color/88min/35mm