An award-winning British Turkish Cypriot filmmaker has set out to do what most documentaries on the Cyprus Problem fail to achieve, to create a balanced and historically accurate film about this long-running, complex political dispute. Londoner Cey Sesiguzel started his film, The Divided Island, back in 2020 and is now in the final phase of […]
The fourth edition of the UK’s only independent Turkish film festival, Taste of Anatolia – Films from Turkey (TOA) starts this weekend with a gala party in Cambridge, followed by a week of screenings that will run until 11 November 2022. Launched in 2018, for the first time in the festival’s four year history film […]
Filmmakers are seeking a young actress of Turkish heritage to play a lead role in a new feature film being supported by the BFI (British Film Industry). According to the casting notice, the character in the film is portrayed as a young Turkish woman, aged 17-21 years old. She is described as “brave and rebellious, […]
Leila’s Violin is a new short film about a young Californian girl, Leila, who travels to her mother’s birthplace in Azerbaijan after her mother dies. There, Leila discovers an ancient settlement of Mountain Jews in the Fire Mountains, where she meets spiritual messengers and finds a ghostly red violin. Filmed amidst the stunning landscapes of […]
Among heaps of colourless films on Netflix, Paper Lives (‘Kağıttan Hayatlar’) stands a lustrous tree topper awaiting to be watched. Paper Lives unquestionably swings in as one of the finest Turkish films to be released in the past two years. Director Can Ulkay and writer Ercan Mehmet Erdem unveil a reality through the eyes of a […]
If you are a young person aged between 14 and 24 living in London and curious about film-related events, this is your chance to sign up for a series of free workshops. Film charity Balik Arts is offering young people an opportunity to learn about the different aspects of organising film events, from screenings to […]
The Lady of Heaven was the talk of the town last week when UK cinema chains Cineworld and Showcase ceased all screenings of the “blasphemous” film on the big screen. The British film claims to depict the origins of terrorism in Islam and its first victim, Lady Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad. The […]
Grudge is a film that starts off beautifully, bearing a plot twist with so much potential. Yılmaz Erdoğan, who both stars in the film and also penned its script, could have done a first in Turkish cinema had he taken a more adventurous direction when developing the crime mystery set around officers of the Istanbul […]
A cursory glance at the poster of My Father’s Violin / Babamın Kemanı (2022) as you scroll through Netflix suggests a nostalgic dive into a virtuoso’s life. Whilst this new Turkish movie doesn’t take the ‘Whiplash’ route into an upcoming musician’s world, as Engin Altan Düzyatan portrays an already esteemed violinist, this film not only […]
‘In Good Hands’ (Sen Yaşamaya Bak) is a Turkish drama/romantic comedy on Netflix. My excitement of watching this new release transpired to be misplaced, as the film is rather underwhelming. The plot is spoon-fed to us right off the bat. Melisa (Aslı Enver) learns that she is terminally ill with “give or take 4 or […]
