Turkish movies on show at Antalya's annual film festival

The three movies competing in the national feature film competition for the Golden Orange Award were "Pazar: Bir Ticaret Masali" (The Market: A Tale of Trade), directed by Ben Hopkins, “Pandora'nin Kutusu” (Pandora's Box), directed by Yesim Ustaoglu, and “Son Cellat" (The Last Executioner), directed by Sahin Gok.

The Turkish film screenings started with Selim Evci's first feature film, "Two Lines". Evci worked with a young and experienced production team, however he was involved all aspects of filmmaking including editing, writing and production in addition to his role of director.

"It is of course because of the lack of a large budget, but taking responsibility for all aspects while filming a movie is also a habit that stuck with me from making short films and documentaries," Evci, director of two documentaries and a short film, was quoted by the Turkish Daily News (TDN) as saying. “But I don't complain. I like handling all aspects."

"Two Lines" is a 1-1/2-hour film that tells the story of a relationship between a young man and woman who live together in Istanbul. The young man enjoys taking photographs while wandering around Istanbul's different neighborhoods, while the woman works in a company and goes to work early in the morning. The couple – totally different from each other – decide to go on a road trip to take a break from their urban lives. But their journey does not unfold as planned.

The film, with little dialog, proceeds at a consistently slow tempo, which Evci emphasized makes the actors' work was harder. He directed them to adopt a bland style, free from much expression.

Evci believes the film represents real life stories, although it has some dilemmas of its own. The characters, while modern and independent, carry the traditional desires of wanting a family and the role of women.

The film has been criticized as too similar to Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 2006 release, “Climates”. “My second feature will be a story about people, who this time, move from a village to the big city searching for something else. The characters will be very different to those in ‘Two Lines,'” said Evci.

“The Class,” the film screened after “Two Lines,” was another film that attracted much attention. The film, originally titled “Entre Les Murs,” is inspired by a best-selling autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau Laurent Cantet.

“The Class,” directed by Cantet, has been highly praised, being awarded the Palme d'Or for best film at the Cannes Film Festival in a unanimous decision by the festival jury.

The film follows a group of teachers at a high school in a tough neighborhood in France that work to look beyond the stress and strain of a low-paying job and difficult students to give their students the best possible education.

Photo: AA