Cannes Palme d'Or winner ‘Winter Sleep’ picked as Turkey’s Oscar entry

ISTANBUL

A photo taken on May 24 shows Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan posing with the Palme d'Or for the film 'Winter Sleep.' AFP Photo

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “Winter Sleep” (Kış Uykusu) that won the Palme d’Or (Golden Palm) for the best film at the 67th Cannes Film Festival will represent Turkey in the foreign film category at the 87th Academy Awards next year.

In a Twitter message, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik said “I hope Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has achieved great success in the international arena, will achieve the same success on the way to the Oscars, too, and wish him good luck.”

Starring Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen and Demet Akbağ, Ceylan’s seventh feature film, “Winter Sleep,” is the second Turkish film to win the prestigious Palme d’Or prize.

“Winter Sleep” is the story of Aydın (Bilginer), a former actor who now runs a mountaintop hotel, and is dealing with his failing marriage.

He sees himself as the region’s kind ruler, intervening in the business of the townspeople below the mountain. In reality, almost everyone, including his wife, dislike Aydın. He has a pompous column in the local newspaper and is writing a book on Turkish history. Conversations dominate the film, as the inner workings of the characters are slowly revealed.

The film drew over 237,000 viewers in the first month of its release, becoming Ceylan’s most-watched film, according to the Turkish Box Office.