Languages Archives: Turkish

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Shorts 5: Drama – Breaking Points

  Various

  Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, France, Qatar, Switzerland, Turkey     95 minutes

Synopsis

These powerful shorts reflect on life’s twists and turns, exploring what we do in moments of profound impact. Featuring works by Valeria Hofmann, Kasım Ördek, Anya Chirkova, Meran Ismailsoy, Jorge Cadena, and Morad Mostafa.

A gamer reveals the sexist harassment and threats she receives from online trolls and finds they infiltrate more than just her computer in the tense thriller AliEN0089 (Chile, Argentina). A young couple is brought to a breaking point when their lifestyle of stealing cars goes too far in Together, Alone (Turkey, France). An Iranian immigrant enlists his son’s help to negotiate with his landlord with both disastrous and humorous results in Baba (Canada). In Flores del otro Patio (Colombia, Switzerland), a group of queer activists in the north of Colombia uses fearless performance art and direct action to protest the region’s largest coal mine. In the aftermath of a violent incident, a 17-year-old must do all he can to protect his family before it’s too late in the stunning and impactful I Promise You Paradise (Egypt, France, Qatar).

 Arabic, English, Persian, Spanish, Turkish with subtitles 

Content Considerations
Stalking, violence
Learn about Festival content considerations...

Screenings & Events

Virtual Screening

This program will be available to stream from October 16 at 12:00pm CT to October 22 at 11:59pm CDT.

Sponsors

Film Supporters

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Close-up of a woman sitting in a car.

Together, Alone [short film] Birlikte, Yalnız

  Kasım Ördek

  Turkey, France     20 minutes

Synopsis

Sevgi and Doğan, a romantically partnered pair of young thieves, accidentally entangle themselves into a more serious crime. Escalating circumstances drive their relationship to the brink in the aftermath.

This film screens as part of the Shorts 5: Drama – Breaking Points program.

  

 Turkish with subtitles 

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A woman with ginger hair, wearing a red sweater, yells while standing in a classroom.

The Teachers’ Lounge Das Lehrerzimmer

  İlker Çatak

  Germany     94 minutes

Synopsis

When Carla Nowak, a dedicated sports and math teacher, starts her first job at a high school, she stands out for her idealism. Then, one of her students is suspected in a series of thefts at the school, and Carla decides to investigate the matter on her own. Carla tries to mediate between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students, but is relentlessly confronted with the rigid structures of the school system. The more desperately she tries to do everything right, the more the young teacher threatens to break.

This gripping drama about conformity, racism, and rebellion — Germany’s entry into the Oscars — is an incisive look at the rapidly shifting power dynamics and complex search for truth in contemporary society.

 English, German, Polish, Turkish with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Film Credits

  •   Ingo Fliess
  •   İlker Çatak, Johannes Duncker
  •   Gesa Jäger
  •   Judith Kaufmann
  •   Leonie Benesch, Michael Klammer, Rafael Stachoviak, Anne-Kathrin Gummich, Eva Löbau, Kathriin Wehlisch, Sarah Bauerett, Leo Stettnisch, Oscar Zickur, Antonia Küpper, Elsa Krieger, Vincent Stachowiak, Can Rodenbostel, Padmé Hamdemir, Lisa Marie Transe
  •   Marvin Miller
  •   if...Productions

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A lone man stands overlooking a windswept grassy landscape, and a river.

About Dry Grasses Kuru Otlar Üstüne

  Nuri Bilge Ceylan

  Turkey, France, Germany     197 minutes

Synopsis

Samet, a teacher serving mandatory civil service in an isolated village in Anatolia, dreams of a new appointment to a post in Istanbul. But his hopes of reassignment are beginning to fade as he faces another unforgiving winter. His gloomy existence is thrown into further tumult when he’s accused of acting inappropriately toward one of his young students. Feeling assailed from all sides, Samet turns to Nuray, a colleague from a neighboring village and fellow wayward soul.

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (winner of the 2014 Palme d’Or for Winter Sleep) covers this fierce psychological character study with a blanket of snow, backgrounding the proceedings with stunning landscape photography that highlights the harsh beauty and intense realities of Turkish provincial life. Featuring impeccable performances and labyrinthine dialogue, About Dry Grasses weaves an intricate web of desperation, hope, and longing.

  

 Turkish with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Film Credits

  •   Alexandre Mallet-Guy, Janine Jackowski, Jonas Dornbach, Maren Ade, Nadir Öperli, Kristina Börjeson, Anthony Muir, Sébastien Beffa
  •   Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  •   Oğuz Atabaş, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
  •   Cevahir Şahin, Kürşat Üresin
  •   Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici, Ece Bağci, Erdem Şenocak, Yüksel Aksu, Münir Can Cindoruk, Onur Berk Arslanoğlu, Yildirim Gücük, Cengiz Bozkurt, S.Emrah Özdemir, Elif Ürse, Elit Andaç Çam, Nalan Kuruçim, Ferhat Akgün, Eylem Canpolat
  •   Philip Timofeyev, Giuseppe Verdi
  •   NBC Film, Memento Production, Komplizen FIL

Sponsors

International Competition Program Sponsor

John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation

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A woman stares out a dirty window, the paint on the exterior is old and cracked.

Black Box

  Aslı Özge

  Germany, Belgium     120 minutes

Synopsis

A Berlin courtyard becomes an unwitting battleground as a xenophobic property owner, the threat of gentrification, and simmering political unrest converge in Azli Özge’s volatile drama Black Box. When an apartment building is put under lockdown by police after an undisclosed event, tensions within the tight-knit community escalate on multiple fronts. Frustrations boil over and conflicts collide as residents unite to take legal action against their landlord, an unemployed mother faces a critical job interview, and the discovery of a corpse in an abandoned unit forces the residents to confront their personal politics and prejudices.

Özge’s deft direction creates a unique crucible where the boundaries of power, fear, and community are tested, raising unsettling questions about the rights and autonomy of those who call this courtyard home. Their preconceived biases deepen the divisions, unearthing long-buried conflicts as residents reveal their true natures, driven by personal agendas in a complex web of capitalism and power.

 Andi, Arabic, English, French, German, Russian, Turkish with subtitles 

Screenings & Events

Media

Film Credits

  •   Daniel Mann, Till Derenbach, Michael Souvignier
  •   Aslı Özge
  •   Patricia Rommel
  •   Emre Erkmen
  •   Luise Heyer, Felix Kramer, Christian Berkel, Timur Magmedgadzhiev, Manal Issa, André Szymanski, Sascha Alexander Geršak, Anne Ratte-Polle, Jonathan Berlin, Inka Friedrich, Anna Brüggemann, Marc Zinga
  •   Zeitsprung Pictures, Les Films du Fleuve
  •   https://www.betacinema.com/138/pid/313/Black-Box.htm

Sponsors

International Competition Program Sponsor

John and Jacolyn Bucksbaum Family Foundation

Film Supporter

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