When his mother dies, Yusuf, a poet, returns to his home village, which he hasn’t visited for years. A young girl named Ayla who had been living with his mother for the past five years, is waiting for him in a decrepit house. Ayla has a request to make: Yusuf must perform the sacrificial rite his mother, Zehra, could not fulfill before she died. On their way for the saint’s tomb, they are obliged to spend the night in a hotel. Caught up in the atmosphere of a wedding party at the hotel, Yusuf and Ayla find themselves drawn together. –Quinzaine des Réalisateurs
Born in Izmir in 1963, where he graduated in cinema and television from the University of Fine Arts Dokuz Eyül in 1984. He worked as a camera assistant and wrote and directed a 52-part TV series called Şehnaz Tango. In 2000 he directed his first theatrical film; his second film Meleğin Düşüşü/Angels Fall screened in the Forum section of the Berlinale in 2005; Süt/Milk screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. –Berlinale
Semih Kaplanoglu is another key player in new Turkish cinema. Bal, his latest picture premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, taking home the Golden Bear, the festival’s award of highest regard. Bal… read review