Turkish director shows first film at Cannes Festival

CANNES, France

Turkish filmmaker Mehmet Can Mertoglu is the country's main hope for an award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The 27-year-old’s first feature film Album was shown in the Critics’ Week – a parallel competitive section of the Cannes Film Festival that showcases directors' first and second feature films.

Mertoglu told Anadolu Agency that his film received mostly positive criticism at Cannes, adding: "I am glad that my first film was screened at Cannes."

The film tells the story of a couple who wants to adopt a child but conceals it by staging a fake pregnancy with a fake photo album. The film questions prejudice and bureaucracy in Turkish society.

"People, including rich and poor, hide to their children that they were adopted. I will be grateful if this issue is discussed in the society through my film," he said.

Mertoglu added that the film would be shown in numerous countries.

Actress Sebnem Bozoklu, who works in a tax office in the film, said that when she read the script, she felt that it was very special and appealing.

"It [the script] did not look like anything I have read before, I thought it would succeed in the international arena because of the film's originality," she said.

Actor Murat Kilic, a history teacher in the film, also described the script as extraordinary.

The Critics' Week started on May 12 and the results will be announced on Friday.

The 69th Cannes Film Festival began on May 11 in the city of Cannes in France. It will run until Sunday.

Album is a contender for the Camera d’Or, to be announced on Sunday, which rewards a first film from either the Official Selection, the Directors’ Fortnight or the Critics’ Week.

In 2014, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Palme d’Or – the festival’s ultimate prize - for his movie Winter Sleep.