Ceylan honored at Cannes with award

PARIS - Anatolia News Agency

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (L) receives the Golden Coach award from France’s Film Directors’ Guild at a ceremony organized at 65th Cannes Film Festival.

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has won the “Carrosse d’or” (Golden Coach) award from France’s Société des Réalisateurs de Films (The Film Directors’ Guild – SRF) at an event held on the sidelines of the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

“This award is very meaningful to me because directors give this award,” Ceylan said at the May 17 ceremony. “They are fastidious people. I also thank those who voted for me.” The Turkish director won the award for his contribution to world cinema, as well as his different style of filmmaking and performances, according to the award’s organizers.

Ceylan’s film from 2000, “Clouds of May,” was screened before the ceremony. “Cinema is a bridge between life and myself,” the director said in reply to questions that were posed following the film’s screening, adding that he made movies in order to understand life.

Ceylan, who described himself as a melancholic person with a difficult personality, said cinema was a form of therapy for him.

He said he lacked confidence at the beginning of his cinema career, leading him to cast relatives in his initial films.

Ceylan won the Grand Jury Award at last year’s Cannes Film Festival for his epic “Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da” (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia). He won the Best Director Award at the same festival in 2008 for his work “Üç Maymun” (Three Monkeys).