Ceylan wins once again in Sofia

SOFIA - Anatolia News Agency

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan is seen at the press conference in Sofia. ‘Many film directors also make TV series’, but nobody will view a TV series that I make,’ he says. AA photo

Renowned Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan yesterday won another award for his latest film “Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da” (Once Upon A Time in Anatolia). The film won the Sofia Municipality Award at the 16th Sofia Film Festival in Bulgaria, drawing great interest in the festival program.

“In my films I invite viewers to live in a slower tempo,” Ceylan said in a press conference that he attended with the actor Ercan Kesal at the festival. “We may not see some truths because of the fast rhythm of real life, so I try to get another reality on the screen by slowing down the tempo. This film may be boring for some viewers, but boredom is a part of life too,” he said.

Ceylan admitted that he found it very difficult to start writing a screenplay: “I don’t even know how I start writing my screenplays. I am hopeless at the beginning of every work, thinking that nothing will come out. But in the end, a screenplay suddenly appears. Because I work with my instinct, I let everything flow.”
Ceylan also said that unlike many other film directors, he was not thinking of making a TV series: “Many film directors also make TV series’, but nobody will view a TV series that I make. It means that I would lose a lot of money. A 90-minute TV series is made in just one week in Turkey, but I would do it in a year. It is not for me.”

‘Once Upon A Time in Anatolia’ is based on the true experience of one of the film’s writers. It tells the story of a group of men searching for a dead body on the Anatolian steppe. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it was joint-winner of the Grand Prix.