ISTANBUL - Set in the aftermath of sectarian fighting in India in 2002, Firaaq is the directorial debut of well-known actress Nandita Das, who presents her film at the festival in Istanbul this week. Das is one of many female directors from outside Turkey with films in the festival, 14 of which are given the spotlight here by the festival director and the Daily News
ISTANBUL - The most important awards of the Golden Boll Film Festival seem to be distributed somewhat fairly, and have erased the atmosphere of competition. At the event, which ended Saturday, the jury presided by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, awarded Nadir Sarıbacak with best actor, Görkem Yeltan best actress and Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun best director.
ISTANBUL - Chile is a long way from Turkey but exchange programs of various sorts can help bridge some of that geographical gap. One of those programs culminates in two prominent Chilean films, Machuca and B-Happy, which are showing at the Pera Museum. Starting with Pera was very useful and from there it will grow, according to young and attractive Chilean actress Manuela Martelli, who stars in one of the films.
ALANYA - Long gone are the days when Alanya did not have a single movie theater of its own. Now this tourist town in the Western city of Antalya has its own documentary film festival, where movie enthusiasts can see real-life stories from all over the world. The eighth Alanya Documentary Film Festival starts today and will continue until Saturday
ISTANBUL - ’Benim ve Roz’un Sonbaharı’ (Roz’s and My Autumn) is based on a story of a journalist who publishes a local newspaper with the support of a few acquaintances to save Hasankeyf, a 10,000 year old settlement, from being flooded to accommodate a dam that is being planned in the area.
ISTANBUL -The Rum minority of Istanbul has a very active cultural group, the Feriköy Art and Culture Lovers Association that was officially established in 1989. Before that, it was an amateur theatrical group that produced many plays. There are a number of theories about the Rum community’s Bakla Horani, meaning ’I ate bakla,’ festival in Istanbul, with some believing that it only began in the 1830s although others suggest it dates back to the rather sybaritic rites of ancient Greek city-states and Rome
I have been writing for quite some time that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is spending all his energy on the March 29 local polls and he sees everything through this angle, including the stand-by agreement soon to be made with the International Monetary Fund, or IMF, or any vital deal for the economic crisis or the developments in the Middle East that are of a great deal of interest to our foreign policy.
ISTANBUL - With no woman to pass her the torch, Yetka Kara says people are admired for the work they make happen. Her success has been well-planned. At the age of 5 she began a path toward the opera. “As soon as I wake up I begin planning my day and my life,” said the general director and art director of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet