Three films share top awards at International Adana Film Festival
VECDİ SAYAR - ADANA
Damla Sönmez
The main award of the 25th Adana International Film Festival, the Golden Cocoon (Altın Koza) went to the film “Sibel” at the awards ceremony on Sept. 29.
The jury of the National Feature Film Competition, chaired by Tomris Giritlioğlu, gave two other prizes to the Turkish-French co-production “Sibel” directed by Çağla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti in addition to the top award.
The main actress of the film, Damla Sönmez, received the award for Best Actress and Emin Gürsoy received the award for Best Supporting Actor. The film, which tells the story of a revolting young woman who can only speak “bird language” in a Black Sea village, had previously won a Special Jury Prize at the Locarno International Film Festival.
“Anons” (The Announcement) by Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, a Turkish-Bulgarian co-production, is another film which received several prizes in the festival: The Yılmaz Güney Special Jury Award, Best Cinematography (Krum Rodriguez), as well as the award for Best Director given by the jury of FILMYÖN, the Film Directors Guild.
“Anons” also competed in the international section and received the Special Mention of the international jury. The film had received the Special Award of the international jury of the Venice Film Festival this year and the award for Best Mediterranean Film.
Another film that received three awards in Adana is “Kelebekler” (Butterflies) by Tolga Karaçelik. The film, which was awarded earlier at the Sundance, Istanbul and Ankara festivals, received the Best Director and Best Script awards from the jury of the national competition, as well as the Audience Award. “Kelebekler,” which combines black humor and fantasy, is a rare example of a film the juries and the audience were fond of.
Politics and fantasy
Fifteen films were selected to compete in the national section and eight of them received awards at the festival. Many of these films had political undertones. The only film, which had direct political references was “Anons,” who told the tragi-comic story of an unsuccessful coup attempt that had actually occurred in Turkey in 1963. “Sibel” talked about sexual politics, male dominance in traditional Turkish society and the revolt of a single woman.
Another strong film of the competition, Hüseyin Karabey’s “İçerdekiler” (Insiders), an adaptation of the play by Melih Cevdet Anday, also had direct connotations to the political realities of Turkey, telling of a power-play between two individuals; the oppressed turning into the oppressor.
“Güvercin Hırsızları” (Pigeon Thieves) by Osman Nail Doğan received the awards for Best Editing (Naim Kanat) and Best Promising Actor (Seyit Nizam Yılmaz). The two main actors of “Kardeşler” (Brothers), a Turkish-Bulgarian-German production by Ömür Atay, received the Best Actor Award (shared by Yiğit Ege Yazar and Caner Şahin), as well as the Best Promising Actress Award (Gözde Mutluer).
“Dört Köşeli Üçgen” (Four Cornered Triangle) by Mehmet Güreli, a stylistic adaptation of Salah Birsel’s novel, received the awards for Best Art Direction (Tuba Erdem) and Best Music (Mehmet Güreli).
“Güvercin” (The Pigeon) by Banu Sıvacı received an award from the Film Critics Association (SİYAD). The international jury of Adana gave its main prize to “Burning” by South Korean director Lee Chang-dong, which was a wonderful picture that competed in Cannes this year