Silk Road Film Festival:Bigger, better & bolder

More than 100 films are getting ready to travel the "Silk Road" in one of Turkey's oldest historical cities, Bursa. The Bursa International Silk Road Film Festival starts today and will host around 130 feature films, documentaries and short films. The first instalment of the Golden Karagöz National Film Competition will showcase recent popular Turkish films.

The one-week festival will host actors, directors, producers and writers from Turkey and abroad, with Mexican heartthrob Gael Garcia Bernal celebrating his 30th birthday amid festival celebrations. Last year, the Bursa International Silk Road Festival in its second year proved to be one of the best with over 20,000 movie-lovers enjoying screenings, workshops, panels and exhibitions.

This year's festival aims to be bigger, better and bolder with 11 sections, free movie courses, panels and exhibitions of movie posters, among other things.

Opening with Gyulsary
The festival, organized by the Bursa Municipality, will open with the recent adaptation of late Kyrgyzstani writer Chingiz Aitmatov's heart-breaking classic, "Proshschay, Gyulsary!" (Farewell, Gyulsary!). Director Ardak Amirkulov, Kirghiz Culture and Information Minister Sultan Rayev, Turkish Culture Minister Ertuğrul Günay and Aitmatov's wife, Maria Aitmatova, will be in Bursa for the opening ceremony.

Other highlights of opening night will include the Lifetime Achievement awards, to be given to two divas of Turkish cinema, Muhterem Nur and Sezer Sezin, both of whom have been solid fixtures in Turkish cinema for more than half a century. Labor Awards will be given for the first time, to two supporting actors, Sırrı Elitaş and Süheyl Eğriboz, whose faces have graced screens in over 100 films, but whose names remain a mystery to many.

This year, 12 newcomer directors from 12 countries will compete for the International Golden Karagöz Feature Film Competition. The Turkish Film Critics Association's honorary president and veteran film critic, Atilla Dorsay, American producer Jim Stark, French actress Fabienne Babe, and the Mexican director of last year's Golden Karagöz Award winner, "Padre Nuestro," are among this year's committee.

From Canada to Kazakhstan
Up-and-coming directors from Canada, China, Finland, Hungary, Israel, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, and the United Kingdom will screen their films for the first time. Turkish director Selim Evci's "İki Çizgi" (Two Lines) will greet its second festival audience, following its debut at the recent Golden Orange Film Festival. Awards will be handed out in the five categories of Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress.

Ten films will compete in this year's National Golden Karagöz Feature Film Competition, most of them screened at the Golden Orange Film Festival. Among the Turkish films competing are Semih Kaplanoğlu'a second film in his Yusuf's Trilogy, "Süt" (Milk), Derviş Zaim's long-awaited "Nokta" (Dot), Mehmet Güreli's "Gölge" (Shadow), an adaptation from novelist Peyami Safa's detective noir, Hüseyin Karabey's real life love story "Gitmek" (My Marlon and Brando), Kazım ?z's "Fırtına" (The Storm), and Şahin Gök's "Son Cellat" (The Last Hangman) with veteran actor Kadir İnanır in an against-the-grain role.

The committee for the National Competition will comprise of director and novelist Füruzan, newcomer actor Murat Han, from this year's "Vicdan," director Osman Sınav, film composer Cahit Berkay, art director Mustafa Ziya ?lkenciler and cinematographer Aytekin Çakmak?ı.

For more information on the Bursa International Silk Road Film Festival, check the weekend edition of Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. For the program, venues and tickets visit Silkroadfilmfest.com.