Film

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Taste of Anatolia 2023 film festival starts this Saturday, here’s everything you need to know

The fifth edition of Taste of Anatolia – Films from Turkey starts on Saturday, 4 November. The week-long festival, which this year spreads its weeks to venues in Cambridge, London, Norwich and Aylesbury, will screen a total of 54 movies, which includes 42 UK premieres. The independent Taste of Anat...

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Turks continue to cancel subscriptions after Disney+ abandons Atatürk TV drama, but is the reaction justified?

Disney+ has lost tens of thousands of subscribers after cancelling its plans to air a television drama series about Atatürk. Turks worldwide have reacted furiously to the cancellation news, ostensibly due to American anti-Turkish lobbying, but was the reaction justified? Last year, Turks were thri...

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Barbie wears Turkish Cypriot-owned GINA Shoes’ pink mules in blockbuster movie

This summer’s global blockbuster movie has undoubtedly been Barbie. The fantasy comedy inspired by Mattel’s iconic fashion doll has taken over $1.2 billion at box offices worldwide, breaking multiple records in the process. Directed by Greta Gerwig, the live action movie starring Margot Robbie in t...

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Merve Dizdar dedicates her Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award to “the struggle of women”

Merve Dizdar made history in Cannes at the weekend after she was named Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival, becoming the first Turkish actress to win the award. She won the prize for her role as Nuray, a teacher in a remote village who has to deal with male harassment at her school, in Nuri Bi...

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Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s new film Kuru Otlar Üstüne to compete for the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival

Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film, Kuru Otlar Üstüne [‘On Dry Grass’] has been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or and other top prizes at France’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival. Kuru Otlar Üstüne is one of 19 feature films to be selected for the festival’s 76th edition, w...

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London premiere of Emin Alper’s Burning Days to double up as earthquake fundraiser

Global film streaming platform MUBI and distribution company The Match Factory are working with film charity Balık Arts to present crime thriller Burning Days. The new film by award-winning Turkish director Emin Alper, will get its London premiere at the Rio Cinema in Dalston, East London, on Satur...

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Film review: Same Night Different Blue (Aynı Gecenin Laciverti) has the most ironic plot twist ever

Aynı Gecenin Laciverti (Same Night Different Blue) is a crime thriller where comic animation and live action merge. The film starts out with a homeless man looking through the small hole of his shelter. Light is seeping in like a laser beam, but what’s the catch here? Elsewhere are two thieves – K...

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Film review: Plastic Dream (Plastik Rüya) is a brilliantly executed film on aging and beauty

Plastic Dream delves into the life of Belma (Nihal Yalçın), a woman nearing her 40s – an age dreaded by those living in our while not totally ruthless, but still highly sexist society. Belma goes to a cosmetic dermatologist for dry skin problems, but she leaves with a whole new parasitic consciousn...

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Film review: Fehmi Öztürk’s debut short film, Free Fun, is “peak comedy”

This short sci-fi comedy was the most entertaining film at the recent Taste of Anatolia – Films From Turkey 2022 film festival, and got a good laugh out of me for its ending! Kika, a drag queen, enters this virtual hedonistic club game called ‘Free Fun’ where everyone, both players and non-player c...

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Film review: plants replace women in Biz Susunca (Without Them), a powerful short film about our patriarchal world

A dystopian patriarchal world, where in the absence of women, plants are the substitutes for men to fully control. Each man owns an empty pot called a ‘void’, which they must fill with a plant purchased from the “Board of District Void and Matchmaking Administration” at some point and take care of...

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