Click here to see The 3rd Boston Turkish Film Festival (April 22 - May 2, 2004)


 
 Turkish American Cultural Society of New England (TACS)
and
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
proudly present

2nd BOSTON TURKISH FILM FESTIVALSM

April 16 - 26, 2003


Click here to read about the Festival in the Boston Globe

Wednesday, April 16    8:00 p.m.        Summer Love / O da Beni Seviyor
Thursday, April 17        8:00 p.m.        My Mother / Anam
                                                          Director Buket Alakus will be present
Friday, April 18            7:30 p.m.        Fate / Yazgi  
                                                          Director Zeki Demirkubuz will be present
Saturday, April 19        1:00 p.m.        Confession / Itiraf  
                                                          Director Zeki Demirkubuz will be present
Saturday, April 19        2:45 p.m.        Discussion with Directors Buket Alakus 
                                                          and Zeki Demirkubuz
Friday, April 25            8:00 p.m.        9
Saturday, April 26        3:00 p.m.        Summer Love / O da Beni Seviyor

All films in 35 mm and with English subtitles

All films will be screened at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston
 

About Zeki Demirkubuz

 

DIRECTORS BUKET ALAKUS AND ZEKI DEMIRKUBUZ

discussing trends 
in Turkish film
 
SATURDAY, 
APRIL 19
2:45 p.m.
Riley Seminar Room, Museum of Fine arts

Free admission

About Buket Alakus


All films will be screened at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston

Click here for directions

Tickets are $9 ($8 for students, seniors and MFA members), $6 for groups of 20 or more. 
For ticket information call 617-369-3770. Box office hours: 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; closed on Mondays. 
To purchase tickets on-line, click here

SUMMER LOVE (O da Beni Seviyor)

 
Directed by Baris Pirhasan
Cast: Ece Eksi, Luk Piyes, Lale Mansur, Ayla Algan
2001, 100 min. 
In Turkish with English subtitles.

In this coming-of-age story set in 1973, thirteen-year-old Esma is packed off to the country for the summer. Although the trip is meant as a punishment for doing poorly in school, Esma is overjoyed to find a soulmate in Saliha - the black sheep of the family who rebelled against an arranged marriage - and a potential boyfriend in a handsome 18-year-old local. But as the first stirrings of teenage love give way to the painful moment when one learns to distinguish between youthful dreams and bittersweet reality, some hard life lessons await Esma. The beautifully shot film, full of sumptuous landscapes and local Alevi culture, delivers a complex appraisal of village life and explores themes related to the massive urban migration of the 1970s.


MY MOTHER (Anam)

Directed by Buket Alakus
Cast: Navid Akhavan, Tayfun Bademsoy, Julide Girisken, Nursel Kose
2001, 81 min.
In German and Turkish with English subtitles.

A film inspired by director Buket Alakus's own mother, My Mother is about a woman Alakus describes as having "the passion of Sophia Loren, the pride of Anna Magnani, the self-sacrificing love of Mother Theresa and the stubbornness of a country mule." The film tells the story of a Turkish cleaning woman in Germany who breaks with her traditional way of life in order to save her son from drugs - and discovers her own strengths and the joys of living along the way. Described as a "brilliant feature debut".


FATE (Yazgı)

Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz
Cast: Serdar Orçin, Zeynep Tokuş, Engin Günaydın, Demir Karahan
2001, 120 min.
In Turkish with English subtitles
 
Musa who works as a bookkeeper in the customs office, believes in the emptiness and absurdity of life. He doesn’t struggle to change his life; he lets himself to the flow of events because he thinks that it all leads to the same end. The death of his mother doesn’t effect him. Although he loves her, her death even makes him joyful. In order not to decide himself, he marries with a girl whom he doesn’t like, but just because she wants to. Whereas in his world, people deal with their fate with their own will and power. Musa is arrested for the death of a mother and her two kids. However, he doesn’t give any reaction to this event, either...
The first film of Zeki Demirkubuz’s “Tales About Darkness” trilogy, FATE, the screenplay of which has been inspired by Albert Camus’ famous novel “Stranger”, describes the story of a person who feels guilty without any reason and rejects to use his will. “All my life, I always wanted to express my feeling of guilt and my hatred towards the privileged and to those who are seeking privilege only.” – Zeki Demirkubuz

CONFESSION (İtiraf)

Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz
Cast: Taner Birsel, Başak Köklükaya
2001, 91 min.
In Turkish with English subtitles

 

Harun, a rich and successful engineer, learns of the betrayal of his wife Nilgün. However, as he does not want to believe it, or else in order not to lose the beautiful wife that he is still in love with, he does not face this situation in the beginning, and does not tell his wife what he knows. However, time is heavy and painful in passing, and uncertainty is unbearable. When he finally decides to have a face off and have his wife confess everything, a long night of “interrogation” starts. While the couple, married for seven years, advance in the darkness of being human, it becomes impossible to identify who’s who. Begging turns into violence, tears mix with screams. When morning comes, everything is over and Harun is face to face with the “truth” that he has been seeking for such a long time. However, this is not the truth of his wife’s betrayal, but that of his betrayal of his best friend years ago.
"There is not much drawback to living without a knowledge as to whom we are, what we are living through, without getting curious of truth. We can even say that this may prove to be good for people of our day. On the other hand, the opposite has many drawbacks. First of all, time passes heavily and painfully. Nothing seems to suffice. But the worst is at the end. After such a long road taken, there is neither a new place to reach nor any new thing to understand. We feel ourselves betrayed and like shit. But if there is no possibility of some other thing happening and if I do not now this, or do not deceive myself, I think that it is worth everything even to live through this pain. Otherwise I wouldn’t dare to make five films on “empty obsessions” like evil and hopelessness in a world where such big and fantastic stories are lived through, a world so full of such meaningful and lofty values." - Zeki Demirkubuz

9

Directed by Umit Unal
Cast: Ali Poyrazoglu, Serra Yilmaz, Cezmi Baskin, Fikret Kuskan, Ozan Guven, Rafa Rodamisli, Esin Pervane
2002, 94 min.
In Turkish with English subtitles

An investigation into a killing through a series of cross-cut interviews with suspects, this intense film opens with the rape and murder of a beautiful vagrant living in a small and conservative neighborhood in Istanbul. As part of the investigation, the police interrogate six people, who reveal the secret history of the quiet neighborhood. Selected as Turkey's official entry to the 2003 Oscars, this story about everyday fascism in the lives of ordinary people was the first Turkish film shot and edited entirely in digital video and transferred to 35 mm. format.


ZEKİ DEMİRKUBUZ

 

Born in Isparta in 1964. He has graduated from the Department of Communications at Istanbul University. He began his film career as an assistant to director Zeki Ökten in 1986 and worked as assistant director until making "Block C", his first feature film, in 1994. His following films, “Innocence” (1997) and “The Third Page” (1999) won many awards. He directed FATE and CONFESSION, the first two films of his “Tales About Darkness” trilogy, in 2001.  

Last year, both Fate and Confession were shown at the sidebar competition at the Cannes Film Festival, marking the first time ever two features by the same director were screened in one year. 

Filmography:

1994  C Blok / Block C

1997  Masumiyet / Innocence

1999  Üçüncü Sayfa / The Third Page

2001  Yazgı / Fate

          İtiraf / Confession


BUKET ALAKUS

Buket Alakus was born in 1971 in Istanbul. After finishing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin in 1995, she studied Film Directing at Hamburg University's Institute of Theater, Music and Film from 1996-98. Her films include: the shorts Schluessel (1996), Tango (1997) and Kismet (1998). Her film Schluessel received the First Prize for Best Main Actress at the Festival Mondial du Cinéma de Courts Métrages in Belgium and First Prize for Best Screenplay at the Festival Donne in Corto Transeurope in Italy. She had her feature debut in 2001 with Anam.


 

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival

boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival boston turkish film festival