TURKEY
- Distant Constellation
- Elene screening in the short films programme Heading for that Adult Crash
- Grain
- Sulukule Mon Amour screening in the short films programme Hoping. Fearing. Dreaming
BFI London Film Festival - 4-15 Oct 2017 - BFI Southbank
GRAIN
Dir Semih Kaplanoğlu
Prod Semih Kaplanoğlu, Nadir Operli
Scr Semih Kaplanoğlu, Leyla Ìpekçi
With Jean-Marc Barr, Ermin Bravo, Grigoriy Dobrygin
Turkey-Germany-France-Sweden-Qatar
2017
127min
Sales The Match Factory
Climate change has caused the near-extinction of human life in this spellbinding dystopian sci-fi from Semih Kaplanoğlu (Honey, Milk). People are herded into detention centres, all hoping they can enter the protected city. Outside its walls, a sparse nomadic economy exists. But a total disaster is imminent. Genetically engineered seeds, which have all but wiped out real grain, are mysteriously failing to work. While the establishment struggles for answers, scientist Erol (Jean-Marc Barr) goes in search of famed geneticist Cemil (Ermin Bravo) who disappeared some years ago, but not before he predicted this doomsday scenario. Giles Nuttgens’ (Hell or High Water) stunning widescreen monochrome cinematography plots Erol’s journey, from a city of very ordered straight lines to the mysterious and unpredictable desert wilderness. In Grain, the twin forces of science and mysticism wage war and with the illusion of its mastery over the planet long since receded, humanity struggles to comprehend what lies in store.
Tricia Tuttle
FESTIVAL GUESTS
These members of the filmmaking team are expected to attend the festival:
Semih Kaplanoğlu, Director; Nike Maria Vassil, Cast
DISTANT CONSTELLATION
Dir Shevaun MizrahiProd Shelly Grizim, Deniz Buga
USA-Turkey-Netherlands
2017
80min
In an Istanbul retirement home, residents reminisce over the past as relentless construction work and constant change takes place outside. In her striking documentary debut, photographer Shevaun Mizrahi sketches a series of charming and idiosyncratic portraits of the residential home’s inhabitants. They include a woman who escaped the Armenian Genocide, a libidinous pianist, a blind photographer who carries his camera everywhere and two men who travel endlessly up and down an elevator. The stories they tell are intensely personal. With an arresting visual style that employs long, beautifully framed takes, Mizrahi’s camera lingers in and around the building, a place where time seems to have stopped. It’s a contrast to life outside, where young men are busy building a new high rise and worrying about the present. Juxtaposing these two distinct worlds, Mizrahi playfully ponders on existential themes, including the unavoidable passage of age and time.
ELENE
16-year-old Elene is a Georgian illegal immigrant who works at a tea plantation. Feeling threatened by various encounters, she tries to be invisible in this foreign land.
Dir Sezen Kayhan. Turkey-Georgia 2016. 12min
Part of HEADING FOR THAT ADULT CRASH
The journey from childhood to adulthood is a headlong dive into the unknown. Whatever country or culture, it’s fraught and stressful for all involved, negotiating family, love and relationships as you try to find your place in the world.
Programmed by Philip Ilson | Total running time 101min
In Istanbul’s Sulukule district, two young women use dance to express their freedom.
Dir Azra Deniz Okyay. Turkey 2016. 6min
Part of HOPING. FEARING. DREAMING.
Hopes, fears and dreams form a narrative resulting in explorations of lives yet to be lived and turns of poetic self-expression.
Programmed by Elaine Wong | Total running time 98min