Discoveries from Turkey World Cinema

Ali who is a guitarist has some issues about him life and decides to make a road trip from Istanbul to Eastern Anatolia. While driving on road, he picked up a hitchhiker who named Leyal.

Feature-length movie based on the characters and plot(s) of Bewitched (1964), which was very popular in Turkey.

Famous film director Levent (45), the honorary guest of Soke Film Festival from Istanbul, is completely unaware of Aliye (25), a housekeeper at the hotel where he is staying. However, Aliye, who is trying to tailor a new life story for herself, knows Levent and his films very well. Aliye's intriguing story brings together these two distant people with completely different lives. Now, they have to choose between reality and fiction.

Suffering through a mid-life crisis, Omer has to face the angry villagers in order to realize his estranged father's dying wish to be buried under the enshrined Noah Tree which his father claims to have planted half a century ago.

A story from Bornova, a neighborhood in Izmir. Two good friends Salih and Hakan spend their days in front of a grocery store waiting for a chance to do something with their lives.

Sevtap and Adem, the postman in the neighborhood, are in love with each other. Sevtap remained single until the age of 30 because no one liked her, so she is still a virgin and has settled for Adem. However, there is someone who opposes this love, her older brother Latif, who was raised in German culture but can be described as a complete fool. One day, Sevtap and Adem send a telegram from Sevtap's father's mouth to convince him to accept the situation. After this telegram, wedding preparations begin. However, during this time, Latif returns permanently from Germany to Turkey, and the truth about the couple is revealed. Latif opposes the marriage at any cost, even if it means harming Adem. Later, despite his reservations, he accepts the marriage and fulfills Adem's every request.

Following the Trojan War, a soldier facing death encounters Thanatos and is drawn into a mythological confrontation about life, fate, and the meaninglessness of war.

The film tells about the struggle between two men who are in love with the same woman. Ahmet and Aziz fish. They both fall in love with Mary, the nephew of the fisherman Veli. Mary's heart is also in Ahmet. However, his uncle Veli, who raised Mary, owes to Aziz's father. Aziz's father threatens Veli Reis to give Mary to his son. If he doesn't, he says he will seize his house and boat. Having learned this, Ahmet decides to pay the debt of Veli Reis. He starts fishing and saving money every day. However, Aziz will do his best to prevent Ahmet from making money.

Türkan Saylan, fighting cancer with all her might, continues to help everyone she knows and doesn't know with every last ounce of energy she has. As her illness progresses, her eldest son Çınar, who lives in Germany and is also a doctor, comes to Istanbul with Saylan's grandson Timur. However, when he arrives at his mother's house in the morning, he finds a group of police officers at the door and a crowd of journalists surrounding the house. A search is being conducted at Saylan's house as part of an ongoing investigation ordered by the prosecutor's office. Timur is upset by his mother's indifferent attitude, and he is also annoyed by his brother Çağlayan's attempts to soften the atmosphere. Though both sons try to get through the day without causing their sick mother further exhaustion or harm, Türkan Saylan continues to worry about everyone else affected by the situation and reaches out to help from her sickbed...

In the quiet foothills of Turkey, Faik lives an isolated existence. When his second son brings his boys for a visit, Faik takes the opportunity to pontificate about the law of the land, as he sees it. He shares one unsolicited thought after the next, most particularly focusing on the elusive nomads whom he suspects have been trespassing on his property. The day and night wear on, and each member of the clan takes his turn entrusting the film's audience with his own dark secret.

Everyone eagerly awaits the arrival of the mosaic of the gypsy girl from America to the Zeugma Museum in Gaziantep. There are others who are just as excited as museum director Esra and security guard Zeki: Barbaros and his men... When the mosaic suddenly disappears, everyone begins to suspect each other. So who stole the mosaic?

Fidan was all by herself on a long and winding road in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, when Şemsi, the truck drives gives her a ride to Istanbul. When Şemsi learned that Fidan was a suicide bomber, brainwashed by a terrorist organization, he thinks that he is responsible for the people who will die in the suicide attack. By this aim, he has determined to take Fidan back to her home before the suicide attack takes place. He is ready for taking every type of risk in order to not feel guilty.

During the year of the repressive military regime, a Turkish writer gets disillusioned by the loss of a dear friend and retires to his hometown on a remote island where he feels safe from the political turmoil. There he escapes to the world of memories, having imaginary conversations with his dead friend. However, the news of a new murder alerts him to the dangers lying ahead. Shot in Turkey following the years of military regime, Av Zamani carries autobiographical elements as the director Erden Kiral also had to flee the repressive regime of his country to be an exile in Germany. The weakness of the film is that the director is not able to take enough distance from the events to give the story a more universal appeal. Av Zamani was screened at the Montreal World Film Festival 1988.

Fikret and Sezer are a happy married couple. Erdal starts to work where Sezere works. Than events develop.

In Turkey, the son of a rich manager is kidnapped. This boy finds a friend in one of the kidnapper when the adventures evolve.

A City Runs Through the Festival is an anatomy of the Festival through the eyes of its own audience.

Orhan is a tenant of Cafer Saba, the commissioner of the Cibali Police Station. Cafer Saba introduces himself as a merchant named Necip Zoka wherever he goes. When Orhan cannot pay his rent, he tries to extort money from Ayfer, a singer who is in love with him. Ayfer takes money from Necip Zoka, who frequently visits the nightclub where she works, and gives it to Orhan. Orhan thus uses Ayfer to pay off his debts. After some time, Orhan decides to marry a woman named Esen. Since he has no money, his father-in-law covers the wedding expenses. He also rents a house for the newlyweds for their honeymoon. After the wedding, when Orhan returns home with his wife, he will learn that his father-in-law has coincidentally rented Ayfer's house.

A love story that begins when Yaman, a man who has given up on life, crosses paths with Nefes, a girl who is trying to hold on to life, will be a great choice for those who love romantic movies. Yaman, who has lost all hope in life due to the events he has experienced, is searching for something when he meets Nefes, who is just like him, and a great love begins between the two.

The film tells the story of the lives of kind-hearted young men from the suburbs. İlyas, Necmi, and Şemsi are three close friends. They make a living by fishing and street vending in one of Istanbul's suburbs. İlyas, who grew up without parents, is the sole heir to a wealthy factory owner. His uncle wants him to live with him and take over the factory business. However, that life is not for Ilyas. When Ayşe, whom he finds at the door of a shack one night, enters their lives, they have everything they need to be happy. Although Ayşe introduces herself as an orphaned girl, her intentions are different.

Murat is a successful journalist. One day a girl named Aysel is kidnapped and raped by three men. Murat is misinformed about the case, so he distorts the whole story which deeply saddens Aysel's family. Murat decides to look into this case again and finds out that the three men are sons of well-off families and writes about them in his articles. Murat's bosses ask him to resign, but Murat doesn't give up. In the end, the culprits are delivered to the justice. However, one day Murat is found dead.

A reporter/cop/hypnotist is blackmailed into working for criminals who are out to steal a precious artifact.

On the eve of his wedding, a young man must deal with the trouble caused by an unexpected guest — his bride's former brother-in-law.

The story of a daring woman who passes part of her life by the question, what can I do?

A widower has problems with a businesman, who wants to take over her house with the purpose of turning it into a gambling house. She hires a man, known to be tough guy formerly, to defend the family against the powerful businesman. But the foreigner has some drinking problems.

Hasmet, director of love stories, wants to make a film which is different than the movies he made before. This movie has a social message. He tries to find a producer but film industry is mainly out of money. When he thinks he finds one, nothing goes as it planned.

Friendship love

After the delay of an official imam sent to a little village, the villagers try to find an imam to lead them during pray. After discussions, they decide to make "Bizum Hoca" (Our hodja) the imam of village, a villager loved and respected by everyone, though he is not an official one. Hodja, a different man from stereotype imams, also wants to change some bad habits villagers have. Meanwhile, the construction of one of the hydroelectric power plants (HPP) causing intense discussions in the region, next to a river flowing through the village, becomes a hot issue on the village's agenda. The villagers are against this construction and the fight begins. "Bizum Hoca" finds himself leading the villagers who started the protests.

Murat has to marry someone if he is to collect his inheritance. So his lawyer decides to marry him to an inmate on death row. Naciye, who is sentenced to death, accepts the marriage proposal. They perform the wedding ceremony at the prison. But things don’t go as planned.

Life is tough for Geyikli clarinetist Huseyin Badem after marrying his true love, Mujgan. He must grab every opportunity that comes his way to take care of his expanding family, even if it means playing clarinet by night for dingy clubs in the area.

The film tells the story of Bulut and Müjde, who are forced to work together to get rid of a murder crime they did not commit, and find themselves in the middle of an adventure they never expected.

Turkish Mr. Majestyk

Derya is angry with Güney. Güney consults imam Suphi on the issue and the imam refers him to Deniz. Seda does not give up on her love. She buys a caravan and settles in the village and begins to gather information about Derya. Seda finds out that Derya is not Sadri's daughter. Showing the file, Seda tells Güney that the family is a swindler and Derya is not Sadri's own daughter. They are all shocked.

An unprecedented cloud has appeared in the sky. As a result, numbers begin to disappear one by one. İlhan, seeking revenge for the trauma he experienced in his childhood, is eliminating the numbers with the help of Biliş, whom he has brought along. As the numbers disappear, everything begins to fall apart, and daily life comes to a standstill. Pırıl and her friends embark on a thrilling adventure to solve the problem. In doing so, they discover that the root of the major issues lies in basic arithmetic and use mathematics once again to save the world from chaos.

Alya and Berin, two young women goes to camping while the complex tension between them is on rise. Their characteristics are the opposite; Alya who is dominant and fierce, much more of a player and Berin who is naive and more shy. Alya's leaderness to keep score and Berin's neediness to keep her happy is visible in their small little tent. The two goes into a fight over nothings special, and after making up Alya dissapears. Berin goes out into to forest to find the reality of the night.

Having to bring money to her home after her father's death, Nebahat starts working as a driver, a completely male-dominated job.

The residents of a small town set between a stormy sea and an ominous forest are becoming insane. They are convinced that successive signs appearing in the town are indications of doomsday.

A young hapless couple's devotion for each other is tested through harsh times of war as they are forced to negate patriotism and dependability to their families and nations, for a length of a lifetime before during and after the war.

The film tells the story of two fugitives and the retired police commissioner who pursues them. A vehicle used to transport a group of prisoners is involved in a traffic accident. Two of the prisoners, Blind Mustafa and Condemned Hasan, manage to escape. Bad weather conditions and the wooded terrain make it impossible to find the prisoners. However, retired police commissioner Hüseyin, who has not found what he expected from life, sets out in pursuit of the prisoners. His goal is to prove himself to his son by bringing the prisoners to justice. Hüseyin catches up with the prisoners deep in the forest. However, the roads are closed due to heavy snow, which turns the situation in the prisoners' favor.

Since the dawn of time, humankind has struggled against harsh natural conditions. The drama of Şemsi, who is partially paralyzed and mentally ill, brings together three police officers on duty that night. Şemsi, who was removed from the municipal cultural center where he had gone to warm up, has lost his lower body reflexes and urinates and defecates without realizing it. The officers who took Şemsi into their car were forced to open the doors and windows due to the unpleasant odor, exposing themselves to the harshness of nature. As they searched from place to place throughout the night to find an official institution that could take Şemsi in, the officers found pieces of their own lives in his. The officers' nighttime ordeal with Şemsi would deeply affect them.

The film is about Murat, a former criminal who gets back into crime. Murat robs a factory with a gang led by Bekir. Although he is caught after the robbery, he is released due to lack of evidence. On the night of the robbery, Murat's wife Zeynep gives birth to a daughter named Ayşe. Murat then tells Bekir that he is leaving the criminal life behind and starts working as a driver at a factory. However, Bekir's new target is the factory where Murat works. Bekir will resort to various schemes to involve Murat in the plan.

The life of belly dancer Funda changes when she falls in love with Ferdi.

Mutlu earns his living as an extra but his clumsiness causes a lot of troubles.

The Classical story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, starring Sadri Alışık as Ali Baba.

The story of a young man who, influenced by a movie he watched, aspires to become a cowboy.

A roughneck music hall owner grooms a charmnig yet haggard belly dancer to be his new star headliner, but she falls in love with a pianist also in his employ.

Easily deceived by her charming affectation, a boisterous country man kidnaps an adventurous damsel to a far off land hoping soon she will come to her senses with him. She lacks the courage to reject his straightforward endearment.

One hour before their wedding, Ceren and Semih, who make their final preparations at the hotel where the ceremony will be held, are forced to question their happiest days when their close friend Mert begins to reveal the secrets of the past.

Veysel's mind is struck with a question. "What would be his one wish if a genie appeared?". He thinks for a while. When he makes up his mind, he visits Leyla to ask her permission before making his wish.

Selim, a minibus driver, moves to a new neighborhood. After a while, he falls in love with Zeynep, who lives in the neighborhood, and proposes to her. She accepts on the condition that he convinces her brother. Selim will try to convince her brother Halim, a bully, so that he can marry Zeynep.

"Karaoğlan - Altay'dan Gelen Yiğit" is the first adaptation based on a famous Turkish historical comic book by Suat Yalaz.

A Turkish folk singer goes on a tour and falls in love with one of his young fan in İzmir. He later finds out that her sister also has a crush on him.

Right Where I Left You tells the story of a woman’s long and difficult journey after her brother’s suicide. Nihan sets off with her brother, her brother-in-law and her brother’s coworker to their village where the funeral will take place. While trying to hide the fact that her brother’s death was not suicide from the village imam, Nihan also confronts her brother-in-law Salim. On this journey, Nihan must confront the contradictions between her own view of life and the norms imposed by religion and society.

A widowed housewife returns to college to complete her studies and embarks on a journey that gives her life new meaning.

5 best friends, in search of finding ways to get rich, finally find a lot of gold in the forest. Just as they think they finally did it, they get in trouble with a German godfather who kidnapped one of them since he wanted the gold. The besties finally save their friend and return their usual loser days.

The film tells the story of a man who witnesses a major drug ring. Kemal is a middle-class employee at a company. One night, Kemal's car breaks down on his way home, so he leaves it where it is. That night, a murder is committed by a major drug ring at the spot where he left his car. Kemal did not witness the murder. However, Commissioner Murat tells him that the network can be dismantled thanks to his testimony. Nevertheless, the network has already killed everyone who has testified against them. Kemal agrees to testify. However, the network has already taken action to silence him.

When a naive gatekeeper at a factory starts a love affair with a secretary, at first fortune seems to be favoring him. But then factory workers put an end to his relationship with her due to an inheritance lawsuit of hers.

Ayşe (47) lives with her brother Rıdvan (38), who has down syndrome, on the outer edge of the ever-growing Istanbul, where the face has begun to change. Their father has been waiting for death in a hospital for a long time. When Ayşe receives a marriage proposal from an international truck driver who stops by the gas station where she works, she makes a choice between her destiny and her dreams.