Hot political themes dominate city theaters
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Şenay Aydemir - Referans
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 18, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The 28th Istanbul Film Festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation For Culture and Arts, ends Sunday. This year’s festival, especially the feature and documentary film sections, screened many films with controversial political content
As the 28th International Istanbul Film Festival nears its end, there is plenty of material to comment on from this year’s program.
First of all, the cinema classes hosted by masters like John Malkovich, Peter Greenaway and Cristian Mungiu were remarkable. Another remarkable thing about the festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, or IKSV, was the moviegoers’ interest in weekday sessions, which cost 3.50 Turkish Liras. Almost all the movie theaters were full in the first week of the festiva.
The most important difference between this year’s festival and previous ones was the political content. It is political because both long feature films and documentaries are mostly based on political matters. But there is a difference between them; while long feature films mostly focus on political characters or periods of the past, documentaries are based on current political matters.
Political history
As for long feature films, German director Uli Edel’s "The Baader Meinhof Complex," which is the highest budget movie of German film history, makes the best of its budget. The film, which features a kind of German history around the Red Army Faction, a prominent and popular radical left terrorist group in Germany from 1967 to peak its in 1977, discusses the matter of terror, the most important problem today. Though the tickets might sell out, the film will be screened Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Yeni Rüya Movie Theater.
"Milk," for which Sean Penn won best actor in this year’s Oscar ceremony, is the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. It traces his political battles and death in the 1970s. The film will be screened Sunday at 9:30 p.m. at the Rexx Movie Theater.
"Il Divo" by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, is the story of one of the most important Italian politicians of the last 50 years, Giulio Andreottis. The film will no longer be shown in the festival, but it will probably be released in the coming weeks.
Featuring the Irish Republican Army, "Fifty Dead Men Walking" is based on the autobiography of Martin McGartland, one of the most controversial figures of "The Troubles," three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, who is still in hiding today. The film will no longer be screened in the festival, but let’s hope it will be released again.
Documentary reporting
Documentary films were one of the sections in the festival that drew great interest. The "Documentary Time with NTV" section brought to Istanbul what was going on all around the world. While "The Yes Men Fix The World" drew attention to the destruction of the free market economy, "Beautiful Country" depicted how southern Italy was turned into garbage by the mafia. "Youssou: I Bring What I Love" focused on disagreements between religions and civilizations.
In recent years, documentary films serve to draw attention to unseen developments; they deliver news from all around the world.
New Turkish films in the festival
One of the most enjoyable things of the festival was the increase in the number of Turkish films. Most of these films were screened for the first time. Among them are Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s "Uzak İhtimal" (Wrong Rosary), Mehmet Bahadır Er and Maryna Gorbach’s "Kara Köpekler Havlarken" (Black Dogs Barking), Pelin Esmer’s "11’e 10 Kala" (10 to 11) and Aslı Özgen’s "Köprüdekiler (Men on the Bridge).
Also shown in the Turkish movie section were Nur Akalın’s "Merdiven Altı" (Underground), Özlem Akovalıgil’s "Kako Si?" (How Are You?), Uygar Asan’s "Düğüm" (Knot), Bozkurt Palanduz’s "Cankurtaran Istanbul" (Lifeguard Istanbul), and Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan’s "İki Dil Bir Bavul" (On the Way to School) were on the screen.
First of all, the cinema classes hosted by masters like John Malkovich, Peter Greenaway and Cristian Mungiu were remarkable. Another remarkable thing about the festival, organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts, or IKSV, was the moviegoers’ interest in weekday sessions, which cost 3.50 Turkish Liras. Almost all the movie theaters were full in the first week of the festiva.
The most important difference between this year’s festival and previous ones was the political content. It is political because both long feature films and documentaries are mostly based on political matters. But there is a difference between them; while long feature films mostly focus on political characters or periods of the past, documentaries are based on current political matters.
Political history
As for long feature films, German director Uli Edel’s "The Baader Meinhof Complex," which is the highest budget movie of German film history, makes the best of its budget. The film, which features a kind of German history around the Red Army Faction, a prominent and popular radical left terrorist group in Germany from 1967 to peak its in 1977, discusses the matter of terror, the most important problem today. Though the tickets might sell out, the film will be screened Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Yeni Rüya Movie Theater.
"Milk," for which Sean Penn won best actor in this year’s Oscar ceremony, is the story of California's first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. It traces his political battles and death in the 1970s. The film will be screened Sunday at 9:30 p.m. at the Rexx Movie Theater.
"Il Divo" by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, is the story of one of the most important Italian politicians of the last 50 years, Giulio Andreottis. The film will no longer be shown in the festival, but it will probably be released in the coming weeks.
Featuring the Irish Republican Army, "Fifty Dead Men Walking" is based on the autobiography of Martin McGartland, one of the most controversial figures of "The Troubles," three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, who is still in hiding today. The film will no longer be screened in the festival, but let’s hope it will be released again.
Documentary reporting
Documentary films were one of the sections in the festival that drew great interest. The "Documentary Time with NTV" section brought to Istanbul what was going on all around the world. While "The Yes Men Fix The World" drew attention to the destruction of the free market economy, "Beautiful Country" depicted how southern Italy was turned into garbage by the mafia. "Youssou: I Bring What I Love" focused on disagreements between religions and civilizations.
In recent years, documentary films serve to draw attention to unseen developments; they deliver news from all around the world.
New Turkish films in the festival
One of the most enjoyable things of the festival was the increase in the number of Turkish films. Most of these films were screened for the first time. Among them are Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s "Uzak İhtimal" (Wrong Rosary), Mehmet Bahadır Er and Maryna Gorbach’s "Kara Köpekler Havlarken" (Black Dogs Barking), Pelin Esmer’s "11’e 10 Kala" (10 to 11) and Aslı Özgen’s "Köprüdekiler (Men on the Bridge).
Also shown in the Turkish movie section were Nur Akalın’s "Merdiven Altı" (Underground), Özlem Akovalıgil’s "Kako Si?" (How Are You?), Uygar Asan’s "Düğüm" (Knot), Bozkurt Palanduz’s "Cankurtaran Istanbul" (Lifeguard Istanbul), and Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan’s "İki Dil Bir Bavul" (On the Way to School) were on the screen.