Turkish Film Days kick off in Athens

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS

Three days of emotion, secrets, adventure, and a trip to Anatolia in a series of distinguished movies began Thursday night in Athens, at the Turkish Film Days organized by the Cultural Center of the Turkish Embassy.

The festival kicked off with a grand opening featuring the movie My Brother, screened at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation with Turkish actor Burak Ozcivit as special guest.

“I loved your energy. I now wonder why I didn’t come here earlier,” Ozcivit told Anadolu Agency about visiting Greece.

In the movie, Ozcivit plays one of two long-separated brothers, both famous musicians, who are eventually reunited by the death of their father.

Friday, day two of the festival, features Cagan Irmak’s Whisper If I Forget, a story of a girl diagnosed with Alzheimer’s who returns after many years to the house she grew up in to find her sister, only to bring up old secrets that were kept in the dark.

Two more award-winning films will be screened on Friday: Emin Alper’s Beyond the Hill, winner of the Caligari Award at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, and Kaan Mujdeci’s Sivas, which won Special Jury Prize at the 71st Venice Film Festival.

The event will end Saturday with three more award-winning movies: Dervis Zaim’s Fish, which won Best Screenplay at the 21st Adana Golden Boll Film Festival; Ivy, winner of the Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Actor awards at the 49th International Antalya Film Festival; and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, named one of the 100 greatest films of the 21st century by BBC Culture and winner of the Grand Prix at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.