Turkish film selected the best foreign film in Toronto fest

ISTANBUL

Leyla Yılmaz’s ‘A Hanfdul of Sea’ wins the Best Foreign Film Award at the Female Eye Film Fesival in Toronto.

“Bir Avuç Deniz” (A Handful of Sea), written and directed by Leyla Yılmaz, has won the Best Foreign Film Award at the 10th Female Eye Film Festival, in Toronto, Canada.

The film, produced in 2011, “because it reflects the selfishness and evil of people with a universal and political language and through the eyes of women.” The film will be released in the U.S. and Canada soon.

Last month “A Handful of Sea” won the Best Film Award at the Lighthouse International Film Festival, an independent film festival, in New Jersey.

The stars of the film, Berrak Tüzünataç and Engin Altan Düzyatan, also won Best Actress and Best Actor awards at festivals in New York and Los Angeles last year.

In the film, which marks Yılmaz’s directorial debut, the main character, Mert, is a well-educated, successful young man who could be seen as the role model of his social class. After living in New York and London for several years, he decides to come back to Istanbul to start a new life close to his parents, especially his mother Rana.

His girlfriend Dilek and their friends organize a sailing cruise on the Aegean to celebrate his return. The serene atmosphere of the cruise is interrupted by an unexpected visit from Deniz, a very attractive, liberal young woman and a true free spirit. She blatantly seduces Mert, who eventually falls for her. Six months later, Mert finds himself in a fervent relationship with Deniz, and his friends and more especially his mother observe and disapprove of the apparent changes in his life and behavior as a result of it.

‘Beyond the Hill’ to compete in France

Another Turkish film, Emin Alper’s “Beyond the Hill” will compete at the 10th International Paris Film Festival, which opened June 29 and will continue until July 10. The film will be screened July 5 and 6. Eight films from various countries will compete in the festival.

Turkey’s Paris Culture and Tourism Office is among the sponsors of this year’s festival. The opening of the festival was also held with support of Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Office in Paris.

 France is one of the leading countries where Turkish films are most often screened.

“Beyond the Hill” tells the story of Faik, who lives an isolated existence in the quiet foothills of Turkey.

When his second son brings his boys for a visit, he takes the opportunity to pontificate about the law of the land as he sees it. He shares one unsolicited thought after the next, most of which focus on the elusive nomads whom he suspects have been trespassing on his property.