TIFF 2018 | Sibel and The Wild Pear Tree

Mavi Boncuk | 

Contemporary World Cinema
Sibel
by Çagla Zencirci[1], Guillaume Giovanetti
France, Germany, Luxembourg, Turkey, 2018, STC

Cast: Damla Sönmez, Erkan Kolçak Kôstendil, Emin Gûrsoy, Elit Iscan, Meral Çetinkaya

A young mute woman living as an outcast in a remote, superstitious mountain village near Turkey’s Black Sea finds her true voice when she comes to the aid of a mysterious injured fugitive, in this poetic fairy tale–inspired film from from Franco-Turkish directing duo Guillaume Giovanetti and Çagla Zencirci.

Masters Series
The Wild Pear Tree
Ahlat Agaci
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Turkey, France, Germany, Bulgaria, 2018, STC

An aspiring young author returns home from college to pursue his passion for literature, but is faced with a complicated family dynamic caused by his father’s gambling addiction, in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s (Winter Sleep) hypnotic and affecting tale of discovery.

[1] Çagla Zencirci was born in Ankara, Turkey, in 1976.

Along with Guillaume Giovanetti  (Lyon, 1978), they form a directorial duo based in Paris and Istanbul, and they directed several short films in the Middle-East, Europe, Central Asia and Far-East, (among which Ata, France/Turkey 2008 and Six, Japan/France 2009) selected in more than 200 Festivals worldwide (Berlinale, Locarno, Rotterdam, Tampere, FIDMarseille, Clermont-Ferrand, etc.) and awarded more than 40 times.

In 2012, the co-directors achieved Noor, their first feature film (France/Turkey/Pakistan), which they developed in France’s Moulin d’Andé and shot in Pakistan thanks to the support of the MEDIA Program. The film premiered at the ACID section of the 65th Cannes International Film Festival 2012, competed in the 47th Karlovy Vary Film Festival, was selected in Busan IFF, and was awarded several Grand Prix (Paris’ “Chéries-Chéris” Festival; Dieppe, France; New York Asian Film Festival; Bogota, Colombia; Missisauga, Canada) and many other Awards (Rome, Milan, Vancouver, Dublin, Toulouse, etc.). After more than 80 invitations from Festivals worldwide, the film has been theatrically released in France in april 2014, with a very good reception from Critics and Audience.

Çagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti have lately completed their second feature film Ningen (Japan/Turkey/France), they shot in Japan and wrote in a residence at the prestigious Villa Kujoyama, Kyoto. The Film Premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2013, and then received several Awards (Best Film, Best Actor and Best Cinematography) in Dublin, Ireland, the Best Film Award in Zadar, Croatia, and a Special Jury Mention in Tours Asian Film Festival in France. It is currently being selected in Festivals all around the World, before its theatrical release in France and Japan in spring 2015.


The filmmaking duo is currently developing their third feature film, to be shot in Turkey.