Event
10th New York Turkish Film Festival - Yumurta / Egg
CONTEMPORARY TURKISH CINEMA
SYNOPSIS
The third chronological story in the trilogy to be composed of Bal (Honey), Sut (Milk) and Yumurta (Egg) when completed, Egg was the first one to be shot and screened. Since then, the film has received international acclaim and won an impressive number of national and international awards including the Golden Tulip at the 27th International Istanbul Film Festival for its poetic and subtle portrayal of a man adrift in a modern world, who, forced by circumstances, returns to his native village to find meaning and the possibility of love." Upon his mothers death, Yusuf, a poet and introvert, returns to his hometown that he had not visited for years, intending to go back to Istanbul right after the funeral. A young girl, Ayla awaits him in a decrepit house. Yusuf is unaware of the existence of this distant relative who lived with his mother for five years. Ayla has a request to make: Yusuf must perform the sacrificial rite his mother, Zehra, could not fulfill before she died. Yusuf and Ayla set off for the saint's tomb, some three or four hours away, for the traditional sacrifice ceremony. Unable to locate the herd amongst which the sacrificial animal is to be selected, they have to spend the night in a hotel. Yusuf and Ayla are drawn closer by the atmosphere of the wedding party at the hotel. While the falling snow blankets guilt, the place to which they are returning will no longer be the same.
FESTIVALS & AWARDS
2008 International Istanbul Film Festival (Turkey): Best Film
2008 Seoul International Film Festival (South Korea): Best Film
2008 Valdivia International Film Festival (Chile): Best Director, Best Actress (Saadet Il
Aksoy)
2008 Fajr International Film Festival (Iran) : Best Director, Best Technical and Artistic Achievement (zgr Eken)
2008 International Belgrade Film Festival (Yugoslavia)
2007 Cannes Film Festival (France): Quinzaine Des Realisateurs
2007 Estoril European Film Festival (Portugal): Silver Caravelle
2007 Sarajevo International Film Festival (Bosnia and Herzegovina ): Best Actress (Saadet Il Aksoy)
2007 Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards (Turkey): Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Nejat ler), Best Actress (Saadet Il Aksoy), Best Director of Photography, Best Art Director, Best Editing
2007 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Turkey): Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Photography, Best Art Director, Best Costume
2007 Eurasia International Film Festival (Turkey): NETPAC Jury Award for Best Asian Film
2007 Bangkok World Film Festival (Thailand): Best Director
2007 Sevilla International Film Festival (Spain): Eurimages Award
FROM THE PRESS
In the beginning we see an old woman walking in the rural fog while hearing barking dogs and singing birds in the background. The woman exits the frame. And now, we see Yusuf, a book-seller and poet, in Istanbul. This is information disguised in an array of innocent-looking shots that keep a hidden meaning within themselves: Yusufs car in a tunnel that has reached light, Yusuf sitting next to a shrouded body, Yusuf standing near a grave and a boy following him like a shadow, Yusuf asleep in a forest to be awakened up by a flock of birds. (...) Just like in an Ozu or Satyajit Tay film, Egg lines up unimportant and small gestures one after another, isolating objects with symbolic meanings from the outer world. A flower planted in a pot on the day of a funeral, a bowl of milk, a toothbrush, a wooden arch in the shape of a cross, a well covered with grass, and the egg we have been waiting for the egg that has given its name to the title of the film, symbolizing a belated acknowledgment of the connection with the mother. Because it will take time for Yusuf, an atheist, to feel and externalize his pain. Ayla will have to insist so that a promise can be fulfilled: to sacrifice a ram in the mountains. This will require a strange coma experienced in the notarys yard during the irrational echoes of the funeral prayer, the smell of an onion, a nightmare, facing the ghosts of the past, getting rid of the hurt caused by love, and as the hours and days go by, the realization that Ayla is the quiet messenger of peace. Aylas nape which burns dead leaves, the color of a knitted piece, an electrical problem, and the sound of a crowing rooster: Semih Kaplanoglu keeps lining up the symptoms and makes the subconscious of Yusuf (who keeps postponing his return) talk through quotidian gestures. The director creates wide angles, vigorous shots, and a slow, harmonious rhythm to find the most admirable things in a man and a woman: honor, faithfulness, a noble spirit, care, patience, doubt, as well as torment. (...) Turkey is discovering a great director next to Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
Jean-Luc Douin. Turkey Is Discovering a Great Director Who Can Make the Subconscious Talk. Le Monde. 04.23.2008.
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LocationAnthology Film Archives
32 Second Ave. (at 2nd St.)
New York, NY 10003
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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Contact
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