EURASIAN FILMMAKERS TO RUN FOR GOLDEN ORANGE PRIZE

Today’s Zaman
Sept 22 2009
Turkey

Twelve feature films from Eurasian filmmakers, including two from
Turkey, will be running for best film in the Altın Portakal (Golden
Orange) Film Festival’s international feature competition next month,
the fest’s organizers announced on Tuesday.

While the festival’s competitive section focuses exclusively on titles
from this part of the world, the non-competitive section will offer
films from five continents, the Antalya Foundation for Culture and Art
(AKSAV), which organizes the festival, said in a written statement.

Bulgarian screenwriter-director Kamen Kalev’s first full-length
feature, "Eastern Plays," an exploration of present-day Bulgaria
from the eyes of two siblings, which also features Turkish actresses
Saadet IÅ~_ıl Aksoy and Hatice Arslan in its cast, is one of the
significant contenders in the lineup along with another first-timer,
British director Peter Strickland’s "Katalin Varga," which won a
Silver Bear earlier this year at the Berlinale.

The Czech production "Anglicke Jahody" (English Strawberries) by
Vladimir Drha, which recounts the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia
in 1968; "Operacja Dunaj" (Operation Danube), the debut directorial
effort by Jacek Glomb; and "Bumaznyi Soldat" (Paper Soldier) by
Russia’s Alexey German Jr. are three films that look at near history,
also vying for the best film title.

Female filmmaker Pelin Esmer’s Ä°stanbul International Film Festival
winner "11’e 10 Kala" (10 to 11), which tells of an old man who lives
in a rundown apartment and his passion for collecting, and Abdullah
Oguz’s "Sıcak" (Kismet), which was adapted to the big screen from
Ä°brahim Altun’s novel "Ä°hanet" (Betrayal) and featured at the
Montreal World Film Festival earlier this month, are the two Turkish
titles in the running.

Another Montreal offering, Serbian director Goran RadovanoviÄ~G’s "The
Ambulance," will have its European premiere at the Golden Orange when
it will be offered at the international competition in Antalya next
month. Armenian filmmaker Harutyun Khachatryan’s docufiction "Sahman"
(Border), which takes on the tension between Azerbaijan and Armenia
following the collapse of the Soviet Union, is also featured.

Two films touching on the issue of refugees, Georgian Georgi
Ovashvili’s "Gagma Napiri" (The Other Bank) and French Bojena
Horackova’s "Ã~@ l’Est de moi" (East of Me) will also be vying for
prizes. The sole Italian film in the lineup is "Tutta colpa di Giuda"
(Freedom), directed by Davide Ferrario.

Turkey’s longest running and most prestigious film festival is
incorporating an international competition program in its main
lineup for the first time this year after ditching its sister event,
the Eurasia International Film Festival, due to a major revision on
the fest’s structure to cut unnecessary costs and also to raise the
festival’s global reputation.

The annual festival is set to open its doors to movie buffs and film
professionals from Oct. 10 to 17, screening 160 titles from Turkey
and overseas in its 46th year. Sixteen new Turkish titles, among
them eight first films, will be running in the festival’s national
competition, as announced by the organizers last week.