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A Turk at Cannes

ALİ BAYRAMOĞLU, Yeni Şafak

This time there is no right, no left, no Kurd, no Turk, no politics nor orientalism. This time only man and cinema exist. A Turkish film director Nuri Bilge Ceylan won the Best Director Prize with “Three Monkeys” at the Cannes Film Festival; a first in Turkish cinema history.

Ceylan was born and raised in this land by this culture. His success is today more important, more meaningful and durable than what's happening in the country nowadays.

In 2003, Ceylan won the Grand Jury Prize in Cannes with his work “Away.” In 2006, he won the FIPRESCI award with “Climates.” Last year, another Turk, Fatih Akın won the Best Scenario Prize in Cannes. The new Turkish cinema makes what no institution has ever made before and with the help of literature turns Turkey into a center of attraction.

As the French saying refers the “Strong Turk” is being represented by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and the Nobel Prize Winner novelist Orhan Pamuk.

Inform,28.05.08