Screening Log: ChinaTurkey Edition

One note before today’s screening log. I’ve never considered attending Ebertfest, a five day festival of overlooked films and panels put together by legendary film critic Roger Ebert, but I really wish I had. One thing I would recommend are the panels streaming online, especially one featuring film critics from around the world, and a debate on the future of streaming and on-demand media. Both are highly worth your time. Onto the screening log!

-The Gang’s All Here, 1943. Directed by Busbey Berekly. 35mm projection at Film Forum.

-Irma Vep, 1996. Directed by Olivier Assyayass. Online Steaming via Netflix Instant.

-Dry Summer, 1964. Directed by Metin Erksan. 35mm projection at Film Society of Lincoln Summer.

-Hazal, 1981. Directed by Ali Ozgenturk. 35mm projection at Film Society of Lincoln Center. 

Nuri Bilge Ceylan on "Anatolia:" Filmmaker's Parable of Life

A staple on the art house and festival scene, the Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan has become an international sensation since the release of his 2006 film, Climates. His latest work, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (reviewed here), follows a group of policemen in a cold and distant land as they search for the body of a dead man, of which the two criminals cannot remember where he has been buried. Less procedural than meandering and existential, and certainly in no rush to subscribe to anything resembling a classical narrative structure, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia won the Grand Prix and has been chosen as the official submission by Turkey for the Foreign Language Film Oscar. When the film premiered at the New York Film Festival in October, Mr. Ceylan spoke about some of the influences and choices he makes in this philosophical epic. (One note: Mr. Ceylan spoke in English, and some of his sentences did not make complete sense. I eliminated some of his answers, and tried my best to interpret some of his words to the best of my understanding. I apologize for any inaccuracy).

On the genesis of the film

Actually, everything started from a real story. One of the scriptwriters followed this story in Anatolia in the 80s, when he was doing his social service, right in the same place; in this town. They searched for the body till the morning, and that interested me a lot. We decided we could make a film out of it. Of course, we changed a lot. We just kept the [premise] of the story. All the characters are created [by us].

The film’s title suggests a fairy tale like narrative…

I actually wanted it to be as realistic as possible, and as historic to today. But we wanted to make the present as the past of the picture. In this way, we tried to create a kind of pointless feeling. 

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: Long Turkish Journey Into the Night

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Directed By: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Written By: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and Ercan Kesal

Starring: Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel, Firat Taris, and Ahmet Mumtaz Taylan

Director of Photography: Gokham Tiryaki, Editors: Bora Goksingol and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Art Director: Dilek Yapkuoz Ayaztuna

Rated: Unrated, but only appropriate for audiences with open minds and strong bladders.

As the title might suggest, landscape may be the most crucial character in the dark and elliptical Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. As the men we follow trek the terrain through the night, the clear plains and trees seem to carry on into the distance without end. These men are lost in a world where not much exists beyond the hills and the slowly fading sun. Like the opening shots of Abbas Kiaraostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, they are dwarfed among the plains in their small cars, which become their only source of light as their search continues into the utter darkness.

            Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is the latest work from Turkish director Nuri Bile Ceylan, best known for his 2006 film Climates. Mr. Ceylan’s latest feature is both an epic as well as an intimate and minimalist portrayal of daily life. Shot gorgeously along the Anatolian plains, this occasionally frustrating work attempts to explore a lot of different themes and ideas, as well as characters, but through a small prism of access in which we our limited by a type of realism in which narrative turns are small and unique. But as it slowly treks toward some sort of conclusion, this police procedural is an assuredly bold attempt to explore a number of notions about the existence of human life, even if Mr. Ceylan is not sure what exactly he is exploring.

New York Film Festival: Nuri Bile Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

A Film By Nuri Bile Ceylan

Turkey

            As the title might suggest, landscape may be the most crucial character in the dark and elliptical Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. As the men we follow progress through the night, the clear plains and trees seem to carry on into the distance without end. These men are lost in a world where not much exists beyond the trees and the slowly fading sun. Like the opening shots of Abbas Kiaraostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, they are dwarfed among the plains in their small cars, which become their only source of light as their search continues into the long night.

            Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is the latest work from Turkish director Nuri Bile Ceylan, best known for his 2006 film Climates. Mr. Ceylan’s latest feature is both an epic  as well as an intimate and minimalist portrayal of daily life. Shot gorgeously along the Anatolian plains, this occasionally frustrating work attempts to explore a lot of different themes and ideas, as well as characters, but through a small prism of access in which we our limited by the realism of how people truly act. But as it slowly treks toward some sort of conclusion, this police procedural is a unique and assuredly bold attempt to explore a number of notions about the existence of human life, or at least something of that matter.