Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005)
Blending the sounds of East and West, Turkey's music encompasses more than just Kurdish dirges and Romany instrumentals, as filmmaker Fatih Akin aptly documents. The country's sonic tableau also includes rap, hip-hop, punk rock and a host of other genres. With German bassist Alexander Hacke as guide, the eye-opening film moves from region to region, capturing everything from neopsychedelic rockers Baba Zulu to street performers Siyasiyabend.
Film trailer: Click Here
Film website: http://www.crossingthebridge.de/
Times and Winds (2006)
In rural Turkey, three friends entering adolescence share the struggles of growing up. The son of the local imam, Ömer (Özkan Özen) sees a callous side of his father that the community does not. Yakup's (Ali Bey Kayali) boyhood crush on his teacher is shattered when he catches his own father spying on her. And Yildiz (Elit Iscan) is disturbed by the sight of her parents making love. Reha Erdem writes and directs this powerful, award-winning film.
Film trailer: http://www.moviestrailer.org/bes-vakit-movie-trailer.html
The Edge of Heaven (2007)
When his father accidentally kills a prostitute, Nejat Aksu (Baki Davrak) seeks out her 27-year-old daughter, Ayten (Nurgül Yesilcay), to make amends. Nejat focuses his search in Turkey, but Ayten, who's part of a closely watched activist group, has fled to Germany. The lives of four Turks and two Germans are soon entwined as a result of cirumstances beyond their control in this compelling drama, which earned Best Screenplay honors at Cannes.
Film trailer: http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/the-edge-of-heaven/trailer
Yol (1982)
Winner of many international honors, including the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival, this harsh drama provides a savage indictment of Turkish sociopolitical oppression in the early 1980s. Written and directed by proxy by the jailed Yilmaz Guney, who spent much of his adult life in prison for political activities, Yol follows five convicts on a week's leave from jail to visit loved one, each facing heartbreak during their time at home.
Climates (2006)
Isa is a college professor in a stormy relationship with television producer Bahar. They've been together for years, but on a seaside vacation with friends, tensions rise, and Bahar ends their romance and returns to Istanbul alone. Ambivalence haunts the separated lovers as they decide whether to reconcile. Nuri Bilge Ceylan is writer, director and star of the torrid romance, while his real-life wife, Ebru Ceylan, portrays Bahar.
Distant (2004)
Mahmut (Muzzafer Özdemir), a divorced, hermit-like photographer, lets his dopey cousin Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak) live with him for a while in Istanbul while Yusuf looks for a job so he can support his family in their native Turkish village. The distance -- and silence -- between the two lonely, depressed men soon grows to intolerance, on Mahmut's part, of the chaos Yusuf has brought into his life. Nuri Bilge Ceylan directs this intimate drama.
Films about Turkey:
Monsieur Ibrahim (2003)
1960s Paris is the backdrop for François Dupeyron's heartwarming drama about Momo (Pierre Boulanger), a teenage orphan who lives in a working-class neighborhood and has very few friends -- save for the kindly local prostitutes who adore him. Eventually, Momo finds a father figure in the older and wiser shopkeeper, Ibrahim (Omar Sharif), who takes him on a journey of self-discovery that will change both of their lives.
Movie trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2409234713/
Film website: http://www.sonyclassics.com/ibrahim/
Gallipoli (1981)
Movie trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3237151513/
Gallipoli (2006)
Oscar winner Jeremy Irons and Golden Globe nominee Sam Neill narrate this meticulously produced docudrama exploring the battle of Gallipoli, a controversial contest fought by Great Britain and its allies against the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Filmed in seven countries over the course of six years, the program puts the campaign in historical context through dramatic reenactments, 3-D animation and interviews with noted experts.
