Kaplanoğlu’s film to represent Turkey at Cannes

ISTANBUL

Director Semih Kaplanoğlu’s film “Bağlılık Hasan” (Commitment Hasan) will represent Turkey at the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

In a statement, Kaplanoğlu said that the film industry around the world has been interrupted for a while due to the pandemic measures.

Stating that the Cannes Film Festival received twice as many films as usual from all over the world, Kaplanoğlu said: “One of the 38 films selected for the official section is our film. We are very happy to represent Turkey in the Un Certain Regard section. ‘Bağlılık Hasan’ was produced without any support from the Eurimages film fund, the Culture Ministry, or international partners. I would like to thank Sinehane, which undertook the production of the film with Kaplan Film and trusted us.”

The film was shot in the Bayramiç district of Çanakkale in autumn 2019.

Umut Karadağ and Filiz Bozok shared the lead roles in the film, which is the second film of Kaplanoğlu’s “Commitment” trilogy, while Mahir Günşiray appeared as a guest actor.

The film depicts Hasan, who makes his living from his father’s fruit garden, trying to get rid of the electricity pole that is intended to be planted in the middle of the garden and his journey to Mecca for pilgrimage purposes.