“KANTO” AT THE GOLDEN ORANGE FILM FESTIVAL AND “ERKEN KIŞ” MET WITH THE AUDIENCE

As the Golden Orange Film Festival draws to a close, two more competition films were screened today. Özcan Alper's “Erken Kış” and Ensar Altay's “Kanto” drew great interest from the audience after the screening.

The 62nd International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival hosted two National Feature Film Competition entries today. Özcan Alper's “Erken Kış” and Ensar Altay's “Kanto” were screened at the Atatürk Cultural Centre (AKM) Aspendos Hall, with the film crews participating in post-screening discussions with viewers.

“There is no single answer to everything; that's why art exists.”

Following the screening of “Erken Kış,” which depicts the journey of a high-profile Istanbul couple seeking to have a child through a surrogate mother, an artist of Georgian and Ukrainian descent, set against a dark backdrop, the film crew answered questions from the audience. Director Özcan Alper, screenwriter Uğur Aydedim, producers Emre Oskay and Soner Alper, editor İsmet Araç, and actor Leyla Tanar participated in the interview. The director was first asked about the place of “Erken Kış” in his filmography.

The director answered this question as follows: "I have previously told individual stories within larger social narratives. This theme continues, but this time we are in the Caucasus. The theme of searching for a home in the midst of a war that concerns the whole world continues, as do the themes of orphanhood, feeling displaced and homeless, and the impossibility present in my other films. Perhaps the most brutal example of capitalism exists here. We began discussing this film with the idea of being separated from the child you carried in your womb for nine months and protected with your eyes. We started working with Uğur Aydedim. I draw heavily from the place where I was born, so I always make Caucasian films rather than classic Turkish films. Geography determines the film’s colour, tone, and story. Here, too, we watched a Caucasian film.”

When asked about the relationship between Yusuf, the main character in the director's first feature film “Autumn,” and Ferhat, the main character in “Erken Kış,” Özcan said: "Frankly, we thought of them as characters who came from the same hometown and studied at the same university. In Turkey, idealistic people have to pay a price. Ferhat is a character with ideals, but, like most people, has turned his life into a prison by prioritising money. We believe there has been a recent shift towards political conservatism in Turkey. In fact, this was one of the main topics we discussed in the final stages; we started to see things too much in black and white. We want answers for everything, but some things actually have no answers! That's why we have cinema, literature, music, and art."

Actress Leyla Tanar, speaking about the filming process, said she found it difficult to return to the pace of the series after the film: "Enjoying the series, experiencing that satisfaction, having something that triggers your creativity. I fell in love with this: we're always on the road! I wake up in the morning, wash my hair, go to the set with wet hair, get in the car, take off my shoes, sit cross-legged, tie my hair up, and we go on set! Sometimes when we get in the car, we don't even know which scene we're going to shoot. The director says, ‘Leyla, tie your hair up, we're shooting the scene.’ Everything was so beautiful in that naturalness that going back to something ‘cosmetic’ became even harder."

“If women are happy, everyone is happy!”

Another National Competition film, “Kanto,” was also screened today. After the screening, director Ensar Altay, cinematographer Kürşat Üresin, co-producer Yelda Yanat Bağcı, and actors Didem İnselel, Sinan Albayrak, Yıldız Kültür, and Cavit Özer answered questions.

The film, which explores the tense situation experienced by a woman who has devoted her life to her family when her mother-in-law suddenly disappears just as she is about to start working, was inspired by the director's previous short film: "The documentary I made in Japan, titled ‘Kodokushi,’ was about solitary deaths. People die alone, and no one knows. In Tokyo, this has now become a social issue. There, I realised that we are slowly being pushed into loneliness, slowly being left to die alone. We wanted to ask a series of questions without offering any solutions."

Some audience comments revealed differences of opinion within the team. In response to a comment stating, “Male indifference and female emotionality are very well portrayed,” Sinan Albayrak said, "Female emotionality, really? We saw a male character caught between his wife and his mother. The only concern of the female character is whether the man remembers their wedding anniversary, while his mother is so ill.“ Her co-star Didem İnselel objected: ”I disagree; why are all these sacrifices placed on the woman? Why does the woman have to put her career dreams aside? I ask, why?"

The veteran actor Yıldız Kültür offered a broader perspective, touching on everyone's, but especially the elderly's, “selfishness”: "That's how real life is; people no longer tolerate anyone. They don't share or divide things. We've all become selfish. The elderly become even more selfish as they grow older; they only think of themselves. If we give birth to children and raise them, it's not so they can take care of us! They have their own lives too; they will live their own lives. Instead of becoming more loving and spreading love around us, we are becoming even more unloving."

The concluding remarks came from Cavit Özer: “You ask, ‘Can you paint a picture of happiness, Abidin?’ Well, I realised five years ago what peace means to our women, our mothers. I understood that if there is peace in a home, it comes from the mother. That's why I think that if they are happy, we will be happy too. If the woman is happy, the whole society is happy!”

Today, the teams behind the films “Bimba,” “Verdiğiniz Bilginin Doğruluğu İçin Teşekkür Ederiz,” and ‘Adako’ from the National Short Film Competition, as well as “Şöyle Anlatayım,” which was part of the special screening section, also appeared before the audience after the screening at the AKM Perge Hall. The Bimba team's discussion with the audience was attended by the film's director Sandra Peso, cinematographer Kağan Kerimoğlu, and production manager Büşra Petek. The discussion for the film “Verdiğiniz Bilginin Doğruluğu İçin Teşekkür Ederiz” was attended by screenwriter Emre Işındağ and Zeynep Tüzer from the sound team. For Adako, the third film in the short film competition, director Alina Evirgen, actors Gizem Aydın and Özgür Emre Yıldırım, and cinematographer Hakan Okumuş participated in the discussion.