Every year the Turkish Embassy reels in a new set of films that entertain as well as give a look into Turkish culture and way of life.
Starting tomorrow, the embassy’s Turkish Film Festival kicks off at the Korea Foundation Cultural Center until May 19.
On opening day, the film festival will kick off with a reception to accompany the 1999 hit “Dreaming Games (Hayalkurma Oyunlari)” at 7 p.m.
“Dreaming Games” is a story of an introverted father struggling to make a living, his worn-out family and the regulars at his restaurant each dealing with their own problems.
Each character’s life intersects with the other and though their struggles are different, they are all looking for the same thing.
On Wednesday “The Dark Face of the Moon (Ayn Karanlik Yuzu)” tells the story of four adventurous men who have escaped from prison.
An antiques smuggler, a bank swindler, an honor murderer and a hired gun find refuge on an island. While they confront their pasts, one of them falls in love with a female islander.
Friday night brings the “The Waiting Room (Bekleme Odasi)” to the center. The main character in the story is driven to make a film about Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment.” Along the way he falls into a deep depression, loses interest in the film and life, pushes those who love him away and cannot complete the film.
The film festival continues on May 18 with a black comedy about of two construction workers who find themselves in a situation that they never expected. “Under Construction (Insaat)” casts a satirical eye over modern Turkey through the story of Ali and Sudi who work on a building site in a slum district of Istanbul.
They dream of saving enough money to emigrate to Italy, but nightmares are closer at hand when they discover the site is being used as a graveyard by the mob. Add a bunch of corrupt cops, a journalist with a body to bury, and a lost video camera, and the stage is set for a hilarious piece of cutting edge comedy.
On May 19, the last day of the festival, the embassy rolls out “All About Mustafa (Mustafa Hakkinda Hersey).”
Mustafa is a successful business man living a seemingly great life with his family when an accident takes it all away from him and leaves him with many questions and a cab driver who can answer it all.
Mustafa is due to get a lot more than what he bargained for, however, as he is taken back to long-forgotten childhood memories and forced to see his formerly perfect life from a very different perspective.
All movies start at 7 p.m. and all movies are free. It is recommended to get there early because seats generally run out fast.
Turkish films attract millions of spectators back in their native land and often surpass foreign films in ticket sales.
The embassy hopes that these films will show Turkey’s growing movie industry and entertain at the same time.
By Yoav Cerralbo
(yoav@heraldm.com)
Source: www.koreaherald.co.kr, 11.05.2009