Turkish directors in festival spotlight amid movie boom (Feature)

By Andrew McCathie Feb 16, 2011, 12:19 GMT

Berlin - Turkish director Seyfi Teoman sets out to explore ways of building different types of families in his new movie, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday.

Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz (Our Grand Despair) is about how the peaceful co-existence of two men in their thirties is thrown off course when they allow a friend's sister, Nihal, to move in with them.

After a while, a certain familiarity develops between the three young people. But the world they have created becomes more complicated when both men fall in love with her.

'They are partners, almost like a married couple,' Teoman told a press conference marking the movie's screening in Berlin. 'The question is: could this relationship represent an alternative relationship?'

'We were a family, a threesome, and it was their friendship that attracted my character,' said Gunes Sayin, who plays Nihal.

Based on a novel, Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz is set in modern-day Ankara. 'People from Ankara are modest and they are more understanding and have empathy,' said Teoman.

Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz is one of 16 films in the race for the festival's top honours - the Golden Bear for best film.

The growing international interest in Turkish cinema comes amid signs of a boom in the country's film industry.

'It's very dynamic,' Ankara Cinema Association chief Ahmet Boyacioglu told the German Press Agency dpa. 'Everyone is shooting a film.'

Last year, another Turkish director, Semih Kaplanoglu, won the Golden Bear for Bal (Honey), about the relation between a young boy and his father, who gathers honey from bees in the forest.

Also showing in the Berlinale this year is Almanya (Welcome) to Germany, about Turks who have left their country in search for work.

In this film, Turkish-German sisters Yasemin and Nesrin Samdereli take a humourous look at the often fraught relation between Germans and the about 3 million Turks living in Germany. Almanya is not included in the Berlinale's main competition.

Despite the accolades that Turkish directors have won in recent years, it is the recent success of Turkish blockbusters that have helped trigger the rebirth of the motion picture business in the country, industry observers say.

Turkey now produces between 70 and 80 feature films a year as a new generation of filmmakers also emerges in the country. Only about 40 each year were being produced four years ago.

There is also a sense of national pride among Turkish moviegoers about their country's cinema, with local films accounting for 53 per cent of total box office earnings - one of the highest rates in the world.

Last year, eight of Turkey's top 10 box office hits were from Turkish directors. Only two were from Hollywood.

Even the international blockbuster Avatar was not able to match the success in Turkey of homegrown films such as Mahsun Kirmizigul's comedy Five Minarets in New York.

And with movie admissions running at about 41 million in a country with a population of about 73 million, there is clearly room for the motion picture business to grow.

'We have to double that,' said producer Mehmet Demirham.

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