Speaking Oscar's language

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, OCTOBER 17, 2008

The 2009 foreign-language Oscar race has begun in earnest, with submissions expected to top the 63 films that vied for the 2008 prize and under new rules that could result in the race being more inclusive than in years past. As always, the foreign-language lineup is an eclectic mix, with big-budget epics rubbing shoulders with tiny art house gems. This year, Turkey submitted Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Three Monkeys" (Uc Maymun). Ceylan won best director at Cannes for "3 Monkeys," which revolves around a family trying to stay together despite hardship. Nominations for the 81st Annual Academy Awards will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 22.

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Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Three Monkeys"

TURSAK, OCTOBER 2008

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2008 Cannes Film Festival “Best Director” winner latest film “Three Monkeys” launched its Turkey premiere as a part of the 45th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the 4th International Eurasia Film Festival.

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4th International Eurasia Film Festival Winners

TURSAK, OCTOBER 2008

Introduced for the first time within the frame of 42nd Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, the International Eurasia Film Festival achieved a great success and gained its individual character as an acclaimed film festival. More than 200 films of every genre, length and format from different countries all over the world are screened as a part of the whole event. The festival is divided into different sections, each with its own unique, conceptual profile where the Competition section accepts films from Europe and Asia. Here are the winners of the 4th Eurasia Film Festival:

THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL EURASIA FILM FESTIVAL HONORARY AWARDS

Kevin Spacey
Paul Verhoeven
Maximilian Schell
Zbigniew Preisner
Michael York

THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL EURASIA FILM FESTIVAL CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA AND ART AWARDS
Mickey Rourke
Marisa Tomei
Adrien Brody
Matthew Modine
Michael J Werner - Fortissimo Films

BEST FILM
"Khamsa" - Director: Karim Dridi

BEST DIRECTOR
"Still Walking" (Aruitemo Aruitemo) - Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

4th INTERNATIONAL EURASIA FILM FESTIVAL SIYAD AWARD
"Three Monkeys" - Director. Nuri Bilge Ceylan

NETPAC AWARD
"Autumn" - Director: Ă–zcan Alper

CRITICS' AWARD
"Dot" - Director: DerviĹź Zaim

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Antalya Film Festival 2008 Announces Winners!

TURSAK, ANTALYA FILM FESTIVAL, OCTOBER 2008

At the 45th year of the longest-running cinema summit of Turkey, the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the 4th year of the Golden Orange’s global gateway, the International Eurasia Film Festival, 10 days of exuberance where continents, cultures and dreams have reconciled, concluded with a splendid ceremony and revealed the award-winners of the 45th year. Some of the winners are as follows. Please check the link below to read more about the winners and  the festival.

THE 45TH ANTALYA GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

BEST FILM
"The Market - A Tale of Trade" Director: Ben Hopkins

Dr. Avni Tolunay Yurtiçi Kargo Jury Special Award
"Dot" - Director: DerviĹź Zaim

Digiturk BehlĂĽl Dal Best Newcomer Award
Aydin Bulut - "Children of the Other Side"

Best Director
Dervis Zaim - "Dot"

Best Screenplay
Ben Hopkins - "The Market - A Tale of Trade"

Best Music
Mazlum Çimen - "Dot"

Best Actor
Tayanç Ayaydin - "The Market - A Tale of Trade"

Best Actress
Nurgül Yesilçay - "Conscience"

Best Supporting Actor
Volga Tekinoglu - "My Marlon and Brando" & "Children of the Other Side"

Best Supporting Actress
Ă–vĂĽl Avkiran - "Pandora's Box"

Best Cinematography and the Recipient of the Kodak Award
Zekeriya Kurtulus - "Conscience"

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Turkish filmmaker wins best director prize at Cannes

Hurriyet English, May 28, 2008

Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan won Cannes Best Director award on Sunday for his searing family drama, "Three Monkeys." Ceylan is seen as one of the most distinctive film-makers of the last decade. (UPDATED)

"Three Monkeys," a tragedy revolving around jealousy, was his third appearance in the competition at Cannes, where the film was the critics’ favorite among the 22 vying for the prestigious Palme d'Or award.

"I dedicate this award to my lonely and beautiful country which I love with passion," said Ceylan, delivering a speech after American actor Sean Penn announced his name as the "Best Director." 

Link

Prizes of the 61st Cannes Film Festival

Variety, Festival Central, TODD MCCARTHY, May 25, 2008

INTL. COMPETITION JURY PRIZES

Palme d'Or
"The Class" (dir. Laurent Cantet, France)
Grand Prix
"Gomorrah" (Matteo Garrone, Italy)
Special Prizes of the 61st Cannes Festival
Catherine Deneuve ("A Christmas Tale") and Clint Eastwood ("Changeling")
Director
Nuri Bilge Ceylan ("Three Monkeys,"Turkey-France-Italy)
Jury Prize
"Il Divo" (Paolo Sorrentino, Italy)
Actor
Benicio Del Toro ("Che," Spain-France)
Actress
Sandra Corveloni ("Linha de passe," Brazil-France)
Screenplay
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne ("Lorna's Silence," Belgium-France-Italy-Germany)

'Class' takes Cannes top prize

Variety, Festival Central, TODD MCCARTHY, May 25, 2008

Laurent Cantet’s “The Class” (“Entre les murs”), an evocation of contemporary society as seen through a year’s events in a Paris junior high school classroom, went to the top of the class by winning the Palme d’Or at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

Prevailing by a unanimous decision of the jury, it became the first French film to cop the festival’s main prize since “Under Satan’s Sun” in 1987.

Runner-up award, the Grand Prix, went to “Gomorrah,” Italian director Matteo Garrone’s unsparing look at organized crime in Naples, while Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the directing prize for “Three Monkeys,” an intense drama of a family pulled apart by crime and suspicion. The Turkish helmer took the Grand Prix in 2003 for “Distant.”

TFC Attended the 23rd AFCI Locations Trade Show

April 17, 2008

The 23rd annual AFCI (Association of Film Commissioners International) Locations Trade Show was held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, April 10-12, 2008. The Turkish Film Council proudly represented Turkey and the Turkish film industry with the support of Ministry of Culture and Tourism. During the trade show, many producers, directors and studio executives visited our booth, were informed about the Turkish Film Council's projects and prospective film incentives. Our high-quality Turkish Star newspaper, which was published specifically for the trade show as a key resource to the foreign filmmakers, was highly in demand. Compare to the last year's visitors, this year more film related people visited our booth and let us know that they are willing to shoot in Turkey. They also emphasized that the production incentives will extremely help Turkey be one of the most competitive and popular locations for the film industry, and also help Turkish film industry, culture, tourism and history be known worldwide.

Over 300 high quality International and US locations exhibitors, and more than 3,000 entertainment industry visitors attended to this year's show. In Santa Monica Civic Auditorium the locations on display cover every cityscape, landscape and setting that our spectacular world has to offer. Locations Trade Show is the place to find the largest collection of film commissions, production resources from all around the world and the information that you need to succeed in your next production.

Please contact us if you would like to receive Turkish Star.
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A Hand That Links Germans and Turks

The New York Times, January 6, 2008, by NICHOLAS KULISH

FATIH AKIN has earned the right to be a little exasperated about the constant focus on his Turkish-German identity.

“Imagine I’m a painter, and we speak more about the background of the paintings than the foreground of the paintings, or we speak about the framing but not about the painting,” said Mr. Akin, a German film director and the son of Turkish immigrants. “For sure this is frustrating, and for sure that’s why I will leave it behind sooner or later.” But he has not yet abandoned the journeys between Germany and Istanbul that have stood at the center of several of his films �" including the breakout success in Europe of his dark, violent love story, “Head-On.” With his latest feature, "The Edge of Heaven," Mr. Akin has created another film of similar geography but with a very different emotional landscape. It is a movie as much about bridging the gap between generations �" father and son, mother and daughter �" as between nations and cultures. He has had success with this latest film, for which he was writer, director and a producer, despite enormous expectations at home after “Head-On,” not the least of which were his own.

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Hollywood and Turkish Film Industries Came Together for Takva

December 14, 2007

Best Foreign Film Nominee Takva (A Man's Fear of God) was honored during a cocktail party on December 14th, 2007 in Los Angeles. Emrah Yucel, the President of the Turkish Film Council, hosted the celebratory reception at the Honorable and Mrs. Hakan Tekin's residence, The Consul General of the Republic of Turkey. Many famous Hollywood names gathered together including the award-winning producers of Takva, Fatih Akin and Sevil Demirci, Takva's award-winning actor Erkan Can, and award-winning writer Onder Cakar. Moreover, John Malkovich, Jacqueline Bisset, Crispin Glover, and many other award winning celebrities, Golden Globe and Academy Members were amongst the guests. The Turkish Film Council's advisory board members such as Yilmaz Erdogan, Cassandra Gava and Peter Stougard from Fox Studios also attended the party.

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Akin's dual allegiance reflected in his movies

The Hollywood Reporter, By Gregg Kilday, Dec. 14, 2007

Fatih Akin is riding two horses as the Oscar race for best foreign-language feature rounds the far bend, heading to the Jan. 22 announcement of Academy Award nominations. For while Akin is director of "The Edge of Heaven," Germany's entry this year, he also is one of the producers of "Takva," Turkey's official submission.

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Interview with the Turkish Film Council Emrah Yucel

Los Angeles, May 16, 2007

In May 2007 in Los Angeles, President of Turkish Film Council, Emrah Yucel was interviewed by Filmcommissioners.com. In the interview Yucel, emphasized mainly the new incentive law coming into effect this summer, which will provide the foreign producers with 18% tax exemption plus 20% rebate of the money spent in Turkey. With the new incentive law Turkey will be able to compete with other countries that are highly preferred by producers as locations. He continued by mentioning Turkey’s geographical, historical and cultural locations that are ideal for filming. Beyond the fantastic locations and appealing tax incentives, there are other various reasons about Turkey, which are unique for filming.

Watch the interview