Istanbul is enjoying its year as the European Capital of Culture, with cultural and arts events taking place in the city from one end to the other, inaugurated with a series of ceremonies held in January. The 29th International Istanbul Film Festival took place in the city’s vibrant cultural atmosphere this year from the 3rd of April through the 18th.

Having been conceived as the Istanbul Cinema Days in 1982, the festival eventually became one of Europe’s most important film festivals thanks to the extraordinary work of the organizer, Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV), led by its charismatic chairman Şakir Eczacıbaşı. This year’s festival was marked by the absence of this important figure, as he passed away in January 24, 2010.  Another absent friend of the festival was the Emek Movie Theatre, an beautiful old movie theatre which has been the host venue of the festival from the beginning, having welcomed guests of the festival such as Antinoni, Szabo, Kieslowski and, Saura.  The venue has been closed this year, due to reconstruction work in the building where it is located, a project which has garnered thousands of opponents as the beautiful, old cinema will be replaced with a replica in the restored building at the end of the project.  There have been protests throughout the festival against the project, as well as a demonstration which was held on the last day.

Golden Tulip goes to Belgium
At this year’s festival, “The Misfortunes” by Felix Van Groeningen, was the winner of the international competition and received the Golden Tulip award.  Based on the award-winning autobiographical novel by Dimitri Verhulst, the film told the tragic-comic story of a boy who lived in a family of outsiders and who eventually became a writer and a cynic.  As the director puts it, “someone who lived through and missed so much, is angry at the world.”*  The film was successful in reflecting this anger, thanks to some great acting and a well-developed story.

The winner of the national competition, “Vavien,” was awarded the The FIPRESCI Prize in the National Competition as well, “for an utmost enjoyable and unpredictable, well-acted dark comedy from the heartland of Anatolia that links elements of popular comedy with a witty and intelligent screenplay.”  Based on a brilliantly written screen-play by Erol Günaydın, the leading actor of the film and, recipient of the Best Screenplay Award at the National Competition, the film was a stunning piece of dark humour set around the lives of people from a small and forgotten Anatolian town, depicting the psychological inner workings of characters with a sharp eye for detail.

This year’s FACE award (Council of Europe Film Award) was granted to “Ajami,” a film from Israel by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani.  The jury concluded that “the two directors have skilfully found the right cinematographic language to tell this powerful story.”

The winner of this year’s Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, “Honey” by Semih Kaplanoğlu, took the People’s Choice Award as well as a well-deserved Best Photography Award at the National Competition.  At the International Competition, the People’s Choice Award went to Xavier Dolan’s “I Killed my Mother” while the FIPRESCI Prize in the International Competition went to “Mademoiselle Chambon” by Stéphane Brizé for “a magnificently told story about renouncement, a love story that puts ordinary people’s lives in turmoil, which talks to us through moments of silence rather than words.”

One of the films that competed for the Golden Tulip was “The Last Station,” by the American director Michael Hoffman, about the last days of Tolstoy.  Hoffman, who presented his film at the festival, replied to the question of why it was in English rather than Russian, stating that the family of Tolstoy was pleased with the decision as they wanted the film to be screened all over the world.

Reflections on alternative families
There was a coincidental thematic coherence between some films at the festival.  A film from the UK, “Nowhere Boy” by Sam Taylor-Wood, laid bare the emotional background for a future song of John Lennon’s in which he sings “Mother, you had me/but I never had you.”  The film successfully explores the sufferings of the young Lennon who lives with his aunt and tries to forge a bond with his real mother.  In “A Brand New Life” by Ounie Lecomte, we follow the life of a 9-year-old girl in South Korea who is abandoned by her father at an orphanage and unexpectedly finds herself as a candidate for adoption by visiting Western couples.  This elegantly made film deals with this sensitive issue without ever slipping into agitation and powerfully reflects the deep melancholy and loneliness of a child who is left at the mercy of adults. “I’m Glad That my Mother is Alive” by Claude Miller & Nathan Miller, again based on a true story, is about a young boy named Thomas, who is in search of his birth parents.  The film deals with the issue of adoption as well, but with its elements of violence, presents a much different ground to reflect on the subject. This well-directed film, supported by the superb acting of V. Rottiers and S. Cattani, has been received by some as one of the best dramas made by Miller in his long career.

“Fish Tank,” by Andrea Arnold, another film from the UK, was one of the most outstanding films at this year’s festival, and deals with family bonds as well.  Set in gloomy Essex, the film tells the story of a young girl, Mia, the older daughter of a single mother.  The mother is an unemployed young woman with no prospects in her life she seems to lack any feelings of guilt for severely neglecting her daughters.  With a harsh psychological realism, the film brings forward serious questions about the lives of people who live on unemployment in the UK — people stripped bare of any expectations for the future.  The film also forces the audience to reflect on how that state of being affects the mutual feelings among members of families, which are much different from those of the middle class nuclear family.

One of the highlights of the festival and another powerful film which presents an insight to a life style completely different to from that of the middle class nuclear family was “A Single Man,” which attracted a great deal of attention at each screening.  This superb film, based on Christopher Isherwood’s novel of the same name, tells the story of one day in the life of a university professor, a single man who lost his boyfriend to a traffic accident.  In his debut film, director Tom Ford deserves great appreciation for so successfully giving a voice to the novel through such unique and fascinating visual language.  All of this comes together with leading actor Colin Firth’s outstanding performance, which also received great reception wherever the film was shown, and “A Single Man” has become one of the best examples of a modern day elegy on the cinema screen.

A language to talk about reality
At this year’s festival, two films from the Balkans, including Bulgarian director Stefan Komandarev’s film, “The World is Big and Salvation Lurks around the Corner” and Jasmila Zbanic’s “On the Path,” received positive audience response. Claire Denis’s new film “White Material” raised questions on the personal reflections of colonialism, while, Samuel Maoz’s autobiographical film “Lebanon” opened up some doors to think about what happens in the minds and hearts of soldiers who suddenly find themselves inside of a tank under orders to kill.

“Lebanon” was not the only film that provoked some meditation on the endless violence in the Middle East at the movie theatres of Istanbul this year.  Elia Suleiman was one of the guests of this year’s festival, and seeing the masterpieces of his discography and listening to him in his master’s class was a great opportunity for audiences in Istanbul, particularly in terms of thinking about art’s potential to reflect on reality, without falling into clichés or didactics. Having established a completely unique cinematic language derived from his sharp, dark humour and intelligent surrealism, at a Q&A session after one of his films Suleiman told to the audience that “if we try to imitate reality that would be a mistake.” Suleiman’s latest film “The Time that Remains” was screened in the section entitled Poet, Chronicler And Insurgent: The Saving Grace Of Elia Suleiman, as well as his films “Divine Intervention” and, “Chronicle of a Disappearance.”

Another guest of the festival, Todd Solonz, whose film “Life During Wartime” was shown at this year’s festival, was very much admired in his master class with his witty comments on film making.  To the young audience who packed the hall, Solonz, gave one important tip: “always go after what is it that is unique, what you have.” He highlighted an important fact as well: “you make the first film, you make the second one, it never gets easier.”

A special selection of films which are set in or are about Istanbul were screened in honour of Istanbul’s selection as the 2010 European Capital of Culture.  A selection from Joseph Losey’s films, provoking documentaries such as “The Cove,” “The Shock Doctrine,” “Space Tourists,” “Comrade Couture,” and animations of Priit Pärn and many more inspiring examples of the art of cinema were featured.  As before, this year’s festival had much to offer, and by the festival’s close on the 18th of April, Istanbul cinephiles drifted home, pleasantly tired with thousands of film clips replaying in their minds.

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N. Buket Cengiz writes on popular culture in the national newspaper Radikal’s Sunday supplement, Radikal İki.

* All quotations are taken from the IKSV official website and from the official festival handbook unless otherwise stated.