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5th Annual Boston Turkish Film and Music Festival - 2006

ANGEL'S FALL ( Melegin Dususu )

U.S. Premiere

 

Directed and written by Semih Kaplanoglu
 
Cast: Tulin Ozen, Budak Akalin, Musa Karagoz, Engin Dogan, Yesim Ceren Bozoglu, Ozlem Turhal, Can Kolukisa
 
2004, 93 minutes
 
In Turkish with English subtitles  
 
 
Screening Date: Sunday - April 2, 2006 at 5 p.m.  
 
 

 

Festivals and Awards:

  • Young Selection Committee Award, Best Actress (Tulin Ozen), Turkey-Germany Film Festival, Nurnberg (2006)
  • Best Film Award, Mongolfiere d'Or, 3 Continents Film Festival, Nantes (2005)
  • Alternativa Best Feature Film Award, 12th Barcelona Independent Film Festival (2005)
  • FIPRESCI Prize and Special Jury Prize for Best Cinematography , International  Istanbul Film Festival National Competition (2005)
  • Berlin International Film Festival / (Internationale Forum des Jungen Films (2005)
  • Most Promising Actress Award (Tulin Ozen), Ankara International Film Festival (2005)
  • 27th Moscow International Film Festival (2005)
  • 14th Brisbane International Film Festival (2005)
  • 59th Edinburgh International Film Festival (2005)
  • Viennale (2005)
  • 3rd Bangkok World Film Festival (2005)
  • Pusan International Film Festival (2005)
  • 21st Warsaw International Film Festival (2005)
  • Barcelona International Film Festival (2005)
  • Flanders International Film Festival, Ghent (2005)
  • Medfilm Festival, Rome (2005)
  • Thessaloniki International Film Festival (2005)
  • 36th India International Film Festival (2005)
  • 29th Cairo International Film Festival (2005)
  • Best Actress (Tulin Ozen), Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design, Best Laboratory Awards, Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (2004)
  • Kodak/Antrakt Screenplay Competition Second Place  (2003)

Scheduled Festival Screenings:

  • Goteborg Film Festival
  • Angers Premiers Plans Film Festival
  • Rotterdam International Film Festival
  • Nuremberg Film Festival
  • Turkei-Deutschland
  • Sofia International Film Festival
  • Singapore Film Festival
  • Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival

 

Synopsis:

Every day, young Zeynep performs her duties as a chambermaid in an expensive city hotel. But she feels oddly disconnected - from her violent, unpredictable father, from the shy workmate who tries (awkwardly, ineptly) to date her, even from her former friends... until a chance encounter with a recently abandoned husband leads her to a sudden, shocking act of rebellion.

"Angel's Fall is the second feature film by Semih Kaplanoglu. After a successful TV series during the 90's, he started in cinema with Away from Home / Herkes Kendi Evinde (2001), which focused on themes like identity and the need to belong to somewhere. His debut feature was mainly built around the steps in the story. This time he has a more minimalist style and lets the film find its route through the characters. 

Angel's Fall's heroine is a young girl named Zeynep (Tulin Ozen), who works in a hotel as a housekeeper. She lives with her father (Musa Karagoz) and they have a traditional, distant relationship. Zeynep doesn't have many friends. She is somehow disconnected with her own life and the things surrounding her, waiting desperately for something to happen which could give her a new direction, also relying on religious superstitions. The savior doesn't come in the shape of a charming prince, but with the assistance of someone closer, she finds a sharply dramatic solution to start a new life. That's when the angel falls to the earth. Not much hope is promised in the end, but at least she is going to continue a ghostly existence.

There is also another story intersecting with Zeynep's, though she remains as the film's main focus. One of Angel's Fall's inspirations is, as Kaplanoglu puts it himself, Tsai Ming-liang. He doesn't share his dark humor and surprising elements, but you could find the similarities in the unforced, natural minimalism of it. There is little dialogue and many long silences, but most of the scenes add to the portrayal of the situation. That's partly because of the authenticity it catches, in the language the characters use and the world they inhabit in Istanbul. 

The camera captures the scenes mostly from a far distance, calmly observing the story. None of the scenes are presented as a climax. As 'nothing much' happens on the screen, the film takes a bleak view of life's lack of glamour. " -- Yesim Tabak, FIPRESCI

 

About the Director: Semih Kaplanoglu

Semih Kaplanoglu holds a BS degree in cinema-television from the Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir, Turkey. He started his cinema carrier as a camera assistant in the documentaries, "Old Houses Old Masters: Houses of the Western Mediterranean" and "Mimar Sinan" by Suha Arin. He has created and directed successful television series and television commercials. His first feature film, Away from Home (Herkes Kendi Evinde), was screened in the 3rd Boston Turkish Film Festival in 2004. He received many distinguished awards for his television commercials. He also writes essays on arts and cinema in various newspapers and magazines. Angel's Fall (Melegin Dususu) is his second feature film.

Filmography:

Angel's Fall (Melegin Dususu, 2004)
Away from Home (Herkes Kendi Evinde, writer and director, 2000)
          2001 International Singapore Asia Film Festival, Best Director
          2001 International Vesoul Asia Film Festival, Public Award, Second Place
          2001 Istanbul International Film Festival National Competition, Best Film, Best Male Actor, Best Photography
          2002 Orhan Ariburnu Competition, Bilge Olgac Director Award, Best Film Second Place, Best Male Actor
          2002 Sile Film Festival, Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Photography, Best Music, Best Male Actor, Best Female Actor, Best Cinematography
The Elevator (Asansor, short, writer and director, 1993)
MOBAPP (Short, 1984)