10th New York Turkish Film Festival -
Bereketli Topraklar Uzerinde / On Fertile Lands
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Date From October 03, 2008 7:30 PM
Until October 03, 2008 9:30 PM
Location
Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. (at 2nd St.)
New York, NY 10003 [map it!]
Info Line (212) 229-1207
Website http://www.newyorkturkishfil...
Contact Ayca User
New York, NY
[email protected]
Sales have ended for this event. Tickets may still be
available at the door.
Tickets are available for sale at the door for $12 on a
first-come-first-served basis. Ticket Desk opens 45min.
prior to the screening.
Description
CLASSIC TURKISH CINEMA
SYNOPSIS
During the turbulent years of 1960s and 1970s, the plight of
the ordinary people of ukurova, a cotton-producing region in
southern Turkey, was told extensively in the stories and
novels of authors such as Orhan Kemal and Yaar Kemal, and
brought to the screen by filmmakers such as Erden Kral and
Ylmaz Gney. After being banned during the martial law period
of the 1980 military coup and having its last remaining
copies stolen, veteran filmmaker Erden Krals Bereketli
Topraklar zerinde (On Fertile Lands) is back on the screen
following a 28-year absence to highlight, once again, the
social gaps and conflicts between different classes within
the Turkish society. In 2008, the restored copy of the film
was screened in a packed theater during the 27th
International Istanbul Film Festival and later embraced by a
new generation of movie goers at in the movie theaters of
Istanbul, Ankara, Adana and Izmir. On Fertile Lands was
surrounded by much controversy. The films negative had been
stolen from a warehouse and found in a studio in Switzerland
years later. When the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festivals
Best Film Award of 1981 was later withdrawn due to the
military regimes ban, Erden Kral protested the decision by
refusing to receive his Best Director award. The film, based
on Orhan Kemals novel of the same title and featuring great
performances by an ensemble cast, tells the story of three
friends who move from their village to ukurova, with hopes
of finding well-paying jobs. Together they work in
factories, construction sites and fields under very
difficult conditions. However, life has different paths set
out for each of them, none of which fortunate.
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
1981 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Turkey): Best
Director, Best Cinematography, Best Supporting Actor (Yaman
Okay)
1981 Strasbourg Film Festival (France): Grand Prize
1980 Nantes Film Festival (France): Jury Special Prize
FROM THE PRESS
...It would be unfair to finish this piece without
emphasizing the fact that Erden Kral does not attempt to
hide the inspiration his directing received from the various
schools that had made the issue of labor their main theme.
The apparent Chaplin influence in Erkan Ycels performance
and the cotton gin scenes, the traces of neo-realism in the
wide angle shots of the streets and fields, and a different
editing approach which reminds us of the Soviet cinema in
the scene where Ali loses his arm as a result of a work
accident all show us that Kral went through a lot of trouble
to render Orhan Kemals novel visually. Furthermore, by
bringing together these creative resources in a level of
maturity that cannot be coincidental, Kral does succeed in
creating his own original style which is as unique and
capable of getting to the root of workers' stories as the
sources that inspired him.
Nadir perli. On Fertile Lands: The Oppressed vs. the
Oppressed. Altyaz. Issue 74. June 2008.
Notes
Please make sure to bring an ID with you. (Required for Will
Call Ticket pick-ups |
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