11AWARD WINNING TURKISH film Sivas, has been nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film Award category for this years 88th Academy Award Ceremony.
Sivas, which saw its leading role actor Doğan İzci, pick up the award for best male actor at the 71st Venice Film Festival is set for a free screening at the Yunus Emre Centre in London on Friday 30th October.
The film directed by Kaan Müjdeci, won the Oscar nomination for Turkey, in the category for Best Foreign Film, out of 18 other films who entered- the highest number of entrees for Turkey yet.
Director Kaan Müjdeci says: “What I had in mind while directing Sivas, was to avoid this well-trodden path.Sivas is about the continuously evolving life and character of a small boy and a small village. I purposefully kept the stakes low: there is no epic love, or an epic struggle, or the usual concerns we see in films that concerns the Anatolian rural life. But it is definitely one hell of a ride rather than an act of capturing. Sivas itself does not capture, but willingly lets go: of its main characters played by amateur actors, its unprocessed setting, meanwhile firmly holding onto its plot”
A brief synopsis of the film is below
Establishing a bleak village in Eastern Turkey as its setting, Sivas features the story of Aslan, an eleven-year-old boy, and Sivas, a weathered fighting dog who develop a strong relationship after Aslan finds Sivas wounded in a ditch, left to die. Meanwhile, a school play dominates the background as Aslan is disappointed in losing the role of the prince to Osman, his rival-in-love and son of the village head. While Osman gets ahead in the two boys’ race to win the hand of Ayse, the “princess” of the village, Aslan tries to impress her with his newfound friend. And Sivas, having found a new lease on life, wins one fight after another, strengthening Aslan’s hand. However, as Sivas’s success attracts more attention by the village head, the roles change and Aslan finds himself in an unexpected crashcourse into adulthood, leaving the princess behind.
Actors include first timers Müjdeci, Hasan Özdemir, Ezgi Ergin and Furkan Uyar alongside renowned professional actors Ozan Çelik, Banu Fotocan and Okan Avcı.
