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"THE TEN BEST TURKISH FILMS"

MOTHERLAND HOTEL (Anayurt Oteli)

 

Directed  by Omer Kavur
 
Cast:  Macit Koper, Serra Yilmaz, Orhan Çagman, Sahika Tekand, Osman Alyanak,Yasar Güner
 
1986, 110 minutes
 
In Turkish with English subtitles  

 

Festivals and Awards:

  • Grand Prize,  Nantes Film Festival 
  • Best Turkish Film, Istanbul Cinema Days 
  • Film Critics Award, Venice Film Festival
  • Bronze Prize,  Valencia Mediterranean Film Festival
  • Second Film and Best Director Awards, Antalya Film Festival
  • Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Score Awards by the Turkish Film Critics

 

Synopsis:

Local standout at the Istanbul Film Days was Motherland Hotel, a sophisticated tale of pathological loneliness with nods to Freud by Ömer Kavur, a young director who has already made seven features. A surprising, stimulating work with nothing of the conventionally "Turkish" about it, "Motherland Hotel" is already on its way to international fests and is an excellent pick-up for adventurous art cirsuits.

Setting is a sprawling old hotel in a small provincial town, which a quiet young man named Zebercet (Macit Koper) has inherited from his parents. Pic's lo-key start sets the stage but hardly prepares the viewer for the shift in register that occurs after a pretty girl spends a night in the hotel. She promises to return in a week, and Zebercet begins an impatient vigil. When she doesn't come back, he starts falling to pieces in a most preoccupying way, revealing a psychopathic, Norman Bates personality below his melancholy, reserved exterior. First he sends prospective clients away, and passes his time sleeping in "her" room. After meeting a youth at a cockfight, Zebercet hesitantly turns down his homosexual overtures, only to rape the hotel maid and strangle her to death. He leaves the body where it is, kills her cat and monchalantly helps police get on the trail of an old client. Only at pic's end, after Zebercet has quietly done away with himself, does camera move in on an old photo of his mother, who has the same face as the girl he waited for in vain.

Apart from its psychological intrigue, "Hotel" is splendidly shot and edited. Koper puts on a one-man show of perturbing fascination.

Yung, Variety
May 6, 1987

 

About the Director: Omer Kavur

Born in Ankara in 1944. He received his education on cinema in Paris. He also held a degree in journalism and social sciences. He attended masters program in cinema history in Sorbonne, France. Spoke English and French. A veteran film maker of Turkish cinema, he received numerous national and international awards. He is one of the finest directors of Turkish cinema with such unforgettable works as Motherland Hotel (Anayurt Oteli), The Secret Face (Gizli Yüz), and Journey on the Hour Hand (Akrebin Yolculugu) which was screened in the First Boston Turkish Film Festival. His latest work, Encounter (Karsilasma), a psychological drama about life, love and overlapping destinies, had its U.S. premiere in the 3rd Boston Turkish Film Festival in 2004. Omer Kavur died in Istanbul on May 12, 2005 at the age of 61.

Filmography:
 
Yatik Emine (1978)
Yusuf ile Kenan (Yusuf and Kenan, 1979)
Ah Guzel Istanbul (Oh Beautiful Istanbul, 1981)
Kirik Bir Ask Hikayesi (A Broken Love Story, 1981)
Gol (The Lake, 1982)
Korebe (1985)
Amansiz Yol (1985)
Anayurt Oteli (Motherland Hotel, 1986)
Gece Yolculugu (The Night Journey, 1987)
Gizli Yuz (The Secret Face, 1991)
Akrebin Yolculugu (Journey on the Hour Hand, 1997)
Melekler Evi (House of Angels, 2000)
Karsilasma (Encounter, 2003)

In Memoriam: Omer Kavur (1944-2005)

OMER KAVUR, distinguished filmmaker of Turkish cinema, has passed away on May 12, 2005 at the age of 61 after a long battle with cancer. Kavur was one of the directors who brought international attention to Turkish cinema with his unique style and with his unforgettable works such as The Secret Face (Gizli Yüz), Journey on the Hour Hand (Akrebin Yolculugu), and Motherland Hotel (Anayurt Oteli), which was selected by Turkish movie critics as one of the ten best Turkish films of all times and screened at the 4th Boston Turkish Film Festival in 2005. Winner of many national and international awards, Kavur's last film was Encounter (Karsilasma), a psychological drama about life, love and overlapping destinies,  which he filmed in 2003.  Boston Turkish Film Festival pays respect to the great auteur of Turkish cinema.