Turkish film fans can savour movies live or online
This year’s Vancouver Turkish Film Festival features seven award-winning features, one documentary, and two movies directed by women. The opening film, Two Types of People / İnsanlar İkiye Ayrilir, is only being offered in-person at 6:30 p.m. on Friday (December 10) at the Goldcorp Centre for the Arts in SFU Woodward’s.
Directed by Tunç Sahin, two of the 2020 film’s lead characters, Duygu (Burcu Biricik) and Bahadir (Aras Aydin), work for a company that buys banks’ receivables. This financial drama, which includes comedic moments, reveals some of the psychological tactics used by debt collectors. It won the award for best screenplay at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.
One fan of the Vancouver Turkish Film Festival is Michael Boucher, director of cultural programs and sponsorships at SFU Woodward’s.
“It’s a really interesting eye on Turkey, its culture, and its history and its politics,” Boucher told the Straight by phone.
The other seven movies at the Vancouver Turkish Film Festival are all available online with a US$40 pass until the festival ends on December 18. Here are four of the other films.
BROTHER’S KEEPER/OKUL TIRAŞI
Director Ferit Karahan shows what life is like for Kurdish boys attending a remote boarding school in Eastern Anatolia, where they must endure freezing months in the winter. This is not something that many western Turks are exposed to. In addition to awards in Turkey, this 2021 effort also was named best film in the Chicago International Film Festival’s new directors competition.
BETWEEN TWO DAWNS/IKI ŞAFAK ARASINDA
A serious workplace injury creates a legal quagmire, resulting in a man being pressured to leave the country against his will. Director Selman Nacar’s 2021 film won a jury special prize, best supporting actor, and best supporting actress at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.
FRACTURED/ÇATLAK
Another film revolving around debt, director Fikret Reyhan’s 2020 drama revolves around a character named Fatih who borrowed a lot of money from a friend in the U.K. before leaving for Turkey, where his credit catches up to him. It won a jury special prize and best actress at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.
LEAVE THE DOOR OPEN/BIRAKIN KAPI AÇIK KALSIN
Directed by Ümran Safter, one of the two female directors at the festival, this 2021 documentary is about two teenage sons of a former Turkish ambassador to the United States who embraced jazz music—and disregarded colour barriers—in the 1930s and 1940s. It won the best documentary awards at the DC Independent Film Festival.