Cinema of Turkey or Turkish cinema, or Türksineması refers to the Turkish film art and industry. It is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, Turkish expatriates across Europe, Balkans & Eastern Europe, also more recently prospering in the Arab world and to a lesser extent, the rest of the world.
I Saw the Sun is a 2009 Turkish drama film, written and directed by Mahsun Kırmızıgül, which tells of a Kurdish family who are forced from their village in southeastern Turkey by the conflict there. The film, which was released on 13 March 2009, was one of the highest grossing Turkish films of 2009, prompting its re-release on 18 September 2009. The film was Turkey's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Breath is a 2009 Turkish drama film directed by Levent Semerci. The film, which tells the story of 40 soldiers in charge of protecting a relay station near the Iraqi border in southeastern Turkey, was adapted from the short stories Tales from the Southeast and Ground Minus Zero by Hakan Evrensel and is, according to Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emine Yıldırım, the first Turkish film that tackles, through an authentic perspective and convincing realness, the contemporary situation of the Turkish army and its long battle with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) .
A Step into the Darkness is a 2009 Turkish drama film, directed by Atil Inac, starring Suzan Genç as an Iraqi refugee who travels to Turkey in search of her missing brother after losing her entire family when soldiers raid their village. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on September 17, 2010, has won awards at international film festivals in Ankara, Antalya and Tiburon.
The Ringing Ball is a 2009 Turkish comedy film written and directed by Mahir Egemen Ertürk, about a team of blind football players who want to attend the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on September 18, 2009, has been screened at film festivals in Ankara and Salonika.
Love in Another Language is a 2009 Turkish drama film directed by İlksen Başarır, starring Mert Fırat as a young deaf man who falls in love with a call-center worker. The film, which went on nationwide general release on December 18, 2009, won awards at film festivals in Antalya, Bursa and Ankara as well as the 3rd Yeşilçam Awards.
10 to 11 is a 2009 Turkish drama film directed by Pelin Esmer.
The 3rd Yeşilçam Awards, presented by the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) and Beyoğlu Municipality, honored the best Turkish films of 2009 and took place on March 23, 2010, at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. Veteran Turkish actress Filiz Akın received the Special Achievement Award.
The Yeşilçam Award was the national film award of Turkey, which was presented annually by the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) and Beyoğlu Municipality from 2008 to 2011. The award, which had been named after Yeşilçam Street in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul where many film studios were based during the 1950s-1970s, was discontinued following the announcement by the Alliance of Cinema Labor Unions' Yeşilçam Film Academy (YEFA) intention to start issuing their own Yeşilçam Academy Award in protest against TÜRSAK's disregard of their suggestions to give the awards a more professional structure.
The 29th International Istanbul Film Festival was a film festival held in Istanbul, Turkey, which ran from April 3 to 18, 2010. More than 200 films were screened in 23 categories at seven movie theatres including Atlas, Rüya, Beyoğlu, Sinepop, Pera Museum theaters in Beyoğlu, the Kadıköy theater in Kadıköy and the Nişantaşı CityLife Cinema (City's).
The International 17th Adana Golden Boll Film Festival was a film festival held in Adana, Turkey which ran from September 20 to 26, 2010. Prizes totalling 575,000 Turkish Liras were awarded in three categories and more than 200 films were shown at nine different locations, including the Cinebonus, Airplex and Metropol cinemas, in the course of the festival, at which films promoting the ideals of democracy were shown and Greek Director Theo Angelopoulos was the guest of honor.
Min Dît: The Children of Diyarbakır, alternatively titled Before Your Eyes, is a 2009 Kurdish-language drama film, written, produced and directed by German-based Kurdish filmmaker Miraz Bezar, based on a story co-written with journalist and short-story writer Evrim Alataş, about street children in the eastern Turkish city of Diyarbakır. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on April 2, 2010, was the first Turkish film produced in Kurdish and won awards at film festivals in San Sebastian, where it premiered, Antalya and Istanbul.
Majority is a 2010 Turkish drama film directed by Seren Yüce, which tells the story of a middle class young man rebelling against his father's brutish authority while seeking a rough romance with a woman of ethnic minority. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on October 15, 2010, won several Golden Orange awards at the 47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and was premiered at the 67th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the award for best debut film. Hürriyet Daily News reporter Vercihan Zilioğlu wrote that, "The director's moral tale draws on the example of today's Turkish youth and the timeless shadow of fathers over sons," and Today's Zaman reviewer Emine Yıldırım concludes that this is, "one of the rawest and truest stories from our society," and "As Yüce’s hardcore realism shows us, love sometimes does not conquer all when individuals chose to become part of the herd."
Black and White is a 2010 Turkish drama film directed by Ahmet Boyacıoğlu which tells the stories of a group of regulars at a famous bar in Ankara, and was described by the director as being a film "about loneliness, growing old, friendship, solidarity, and that special bond you feel for Ankara." The film, which takes its name from the Siyah Beyaz Bar and Art Gallery where it is set, is according to Today's Zaman reviewer Emine Yıldırım "an adamant ode to this bar", which "has been a landmark of high-end art and upper-crust intellectualism for longer than 20 years...and on a larger scale, the city it represents through its group of characters." It went on general release across Turkey on April 23, 2010 and was selected for the 47th Antalya "Golden Orange" International Film Festival and the 59th Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival.
The 30th International Istanbul Film Festival was a film festival held in Istanbul, Turkey, which ran from April 2 to 17, 2011. 232 films were screened in 21 categories at Atlas, Beyoğlu, Fitaş, Pera Museum Cinema, Nişantaşı CityLife, and Kadıköy Rexx.
The 18th International Adana Golden Boll Film Festival was a film festival held in Adana, Turkey from September 17 to 25, 2011. Cash prizes totalling 936,000 Turkish Liras, the highest amount given by a film festival in Turkey, were awarded for all categories, for the first time in Turkey, in three competitive sections, nearly 220 films were shown both in and out of competition in a selection described by critic Ali Koca as "one of the event’s strongest in recent years," following disappointment with the previous year's hastily rescheduled event, and there were also a range of lectures, workshops and other events, including the 1st International Golden Boll Film Congress, said to be the first to be organised during a film festival.
The 4th Yeşilçam Awards, presented by the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) and Beyoğlu Municipality, honored the best Turkish films of 2010 and took place at the conclusion of the 4th Yeşilçam Week festival on March 28, 2011, at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul, Turkey.
The 43rd SİYAD Awards, presented by the Turkish Film Critics Association (SİYAD), honored the best Turkish films of 2010 and took place on February 24, 2011, at the Türker İnanoğlu Maslak Show Center in Istanbul, Turkey.
Halil İbrahim Ergün, better known as Halil Ergün, is a Turkish stage, movie, and television series actor.
