The second edition of the Rome Turkish Film Festival was set to get under way Thursday in the Italian capital with a gala screening of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s international award-winning film “Üç Maymun” (Three Monkeys).
Called the Film Festival Turco di Roma in Italian, the four-day mini festival is screening 15 recent Turkish films in its 2012 edition, which is taking place at two theaters in Rome: Casa del Cinema and Alcazar.Launched last September as a joint effort by the Turkish Embassy in Rome, Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Ministry for EU Affairs, the festival is mainly aimed at Italian moviegoers, with a focus on promoting contemporary Turkish cinema in Italy.
Italian-based Turkish filmmaker Ferzan Özpetek is the honorary president of the festival, which ends on Sunday.
Ceylan is this year’s guest of honor, and three of his award-winning films, “Kasaba” (The Small Town), “Mayıs Sıkıntısı” (Clouds of May) and “Uzak” (Distant), are featured as part of the festival’s “Tribute to the Master” program. Ceylan was to receive the festival’s honor award at Thursday night’s opening gala.
Other films on this year’s lineup include Zeki Demirkubuz’s most recent effort, “Yeraltı” (Inside), loosely based on Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel “Notes from Underground”; “Babamın Sesi” (The Voice of My Father), co-directed by Orhan Eskiköy and Zeynel Doğan; “Nar” (Pomegranate), a thriller directed by Ümit Ünal and starring Serra Yılmaz in its leading role; and German-Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akın’s most recent documentary, “Polluting Paradise.” For more information, visit www.filmfestivalturcodiroma.org
(Today’s Zaman)
