Spaces of Conflict in Contemporary Turkish Cinema: "Edge of Heaven" and "Distant" November 6, 2008
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455
In Edge of Heaven (Fatih Akin, 2008, 122m), a Turkish man travels from Germany to Istanbul and back again to find the daughter of his father's former girlfriend. While he learns more about her life, the conservative and secular views of Turks clash at home and abroad. Winner of the Best Screenplay Award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
In Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002, 110m), urban and rural values clash as Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir), a photographer living in Istanbul, hosts his cousin Yusef (Mehmet Emin Toprak) after a small town factory closes down and leaves him unemployed. As Yusef searches for work, the two must come to terms with the different paths that their lives have taken. Winner of the Anatalya Golden Orange and the Istanbul International Film Festival Awards for Best Film of the year, Distant also received accolades at Cannes, receiving the Grand Jury Prize, the France Culture Award and Best Actor for Muzaffer Ozdemir
Organized by the Transnational Film and Media Studies Collaborative.
Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/collabs08-09/TransnationalFilm.php
Added by UMN Institute for Advanced Study on October 29, 2008