22/10/2019 - At its 56th edition, the oldest Turkish film gathering is re-introducing its National Competitions after a two-year hiatus, as a new team aims to connect local and international talents

Focusing on the theme of a “Return to Roots”, the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival aims to connect up-and-coming talents and established professionals from Turkey and abroad at the famous Mediterranean resort. Running from 26 October-1 November, the 56^th edition of the festival re-establishes the previously defunct National Competitions sections, while Ahmet Boyacıoğlu and Başak Emre have been appointed as the festival and artistic directors, respectively.

After a two-year hiatus, the National Competitions thus return to the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. In the National Feature Film Competition, ten titles, out of the 50 submitted, will be presented, with six of them having their world premieres at Antalya. The jury, chaired by Antalya-awarded Turkish auteur Zeki Demirkubuz, and comprising author Latife Tekin, actress Şebnem Bozoklu, actor-screenwriter Mert Fırat and cinematographer Emre Erkmen, will determine the winners across 14 categories. The prizes boast a total value of TL 720,000 (€110,800), including the Best Film Award and the Best First Film Award. Also, for the first time, the Cahide Sonku Award is being introduced for a female filmmaker.

The selection includes The Adventures of Şukran the Lame by Onur Ünlü, The Antenna by Orçun Behram, Breath by Özkan Yılmaz, Chronology by Ali Aydın, La Belle Indifference by Kıvanç Sezer, Love, Spells and All That by Ümit Ünal, Not Knowing by Leyla Yılmaz, Omar and Us by Maryna Er Gorbach and Mehmet Bahadır Er, Steppe by Ali Özel, and Walnut Tree by Faysal Soysal.

In the National Documentary Film Competition, ten films from among the 73 submitted will also compete for the Best Film Award and the Special Jury Prize. The movies will be weighed up by a jury consisting of film critic Melis Behlil, documentary director-producer Nurdan Arca and DokuFest artistic director Veton Nurkollari. The documentaries are Aether [+see also:
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film profile] by Rûken Tekeş, Amina by Kıvılcım Akay, Blue Hotel by Hasan Basri Özdemir and Emre Karadaş, The Boss by Hasan Başoğlu, Dentist’s Fear by Murat Erün, Dictionary of Waste: Recycling Definitions and Images by Alper Şen, Do You Think God Loves Immigrant Children, Mom? by Rena Lusin Bitmez, I Had a Dream You Won’t Understand Even If I Tell by Burcu Esenç and Cantekin Cantez, Under the Road, It’s the River by Yasin Semiz and Women’s Country by Şirin Bahar Demirel. In addition, 15 shorts will be going head to head in the National Short Film Competition, vying for the Best Film Award and the Special Jury Prize.

Hailing from various countries, the ten films that will participate in the 56th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival’s International Feature Film Competition will be duking it out for the Best Film and Best Director Awards, and the Golden Orange statuettes will be presented to the winners of Best Male Actor and Best Female Actor. German writer-director Wolfgang Becker is heading up the jury, and the other members are Icelandic writer-director Rúnar Rúnarsson, Dutch actress Johanna ter Steege, Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska and Busan Film Festival director Jay Jeon. The films, which will all be having their Turkish premieres at Antalya, are: A Son [+see also:
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interview: Mehdi M Barsaoui and Sami B…
film profile] by Mehdi M Barsaoui (Tunisia/France/Lebanon/Qatar), Beware of Children [+see also:
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interview: Dag Johan Haugerud
film profile] by Dag Johan Haugerud (Norway/Sweden), Castle of Dreams by Reza Mirkarimi (Iran), The Diary of Diana B [+see also:
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interview: Dana Budisavljević
film profile] by Dana Budisavljević (Croatia/Slovenia/Serbia), Let There Be Light [+see also:
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interview: Marko Škop
interview: Milan Ondrík
film profile] by Marko Škop (Slovakia/Czech Republic), Only the Animals [+see also:
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interview: Dominik Moll
film profile] by Dominik Koll (France/Germany), Our Lady of the Nile [+see also:
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film profile] by Atiq Rahimi (France/Belgium/Rwanda), They Say Nothing Stays the Same by Joe Odagiri (Japan), Those Who Remained [+see also:
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film profile] by Barnabás Tóth (Hungary) and Three Summers [+see also:
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film profile] by Sandra Kogut (Brazil/France).

Again following its theme, the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival will bestow this year’s Honorary Awards upon two seasoned Turkish actors, Selma Güneri and Ahmet Mekin, who will attend the opening ceremony. Also, the biggest surprise at the event will be a special screening of Tamilla, the 1927 silent film by controversial stage and screen director Muhsin Ertuğrul, which he directed in Ukraine and which was previously thought to have been lost. The film will be screened in Turkey for the first time in 92 years, with a live musical accompaniment.