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A report on 14th Film Festival on wheels- Kars (Turkey)
(07-13 November 2008) by Gönül Dönmez-Colin

If people do not go to the cinema, the cinema goes to the people. This is the best way to describe the Festival on Wheels that has been bringing quality cinema to the remotest corners of Turkey while carrying the best of Turkish cinema to European and North American capitals. Kars, an eastern town laden with history lies at the Turkish-Armenian border. Until Orhan Pamuk wrote the novel Snow, not many people had heard of Kars and the city Pamuk described in his novel, although fictitious, did not flatter the residents who claim that their town is open-minded and modern, which is evidenced in the large number of women one notices in the streets or cafes who do not support the head scarf. For a population of around 325 000 inhabitants, however, there are only two halls with screening possibilities, which encourages DVD pirating. Hence the importance of the that for one week show-cases an impressive selection of films from around the world in addition to the latest gems of Turkish cinema. For the locals, to meet Tarik Akan the idol of generations with unforgettable roles such as in Yol or Sürü / The Herd or Müjde Ar who, starting in the 1980s revolutionized the way cinema looked at women with her daring performances (particularly in Atif Yilmaz films), this is a dream come true and a good educational tool for the young generation weaned on the sit-coms and soap-operas of the Turkish television.

Originally founded as the Festival of European Films with a program of Turkish and European films that visited different cities of Europe, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia in four weeks, the festival found its niche in Kars and even dropped the screenings of Ankara, the capital this year. Another novelty was to extend the program to the world cinema.

Ten films competed for the Golden and Silver Goose and SIYAD (Turkish Critics) awards. ((The goose is practically the emblem of the town and an important revenue.) In addition to Semih Kaplanoglu’s Süt / Milk and Özcan Alper’s Sonbahar / Autumn from Turkey, Goran Markovic’s Turneja / The Tour and two Mexican films, Lake Tahore by Fernando Eimbcke and Desierto Adantro /Desert Within by Rodrigo Pla and Hunger by Steve McQueen about the IRA hunger strike in 1981 were some of the films in this section.

The festival opened with Pandoranin Kutusu / Pandora’s Box, the latest film of Turkey’s most important woman director, Yesim Ustaoglu, already awarded the Golden Conch for Best Film at this year’s San Sebastian Film Festival and closed with Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes winner, Üç Maymun / Three Monkeys. Some of the other Turkish films that had gala screenings in Kars were Tatil Kitabi / Summer Book by Seyfi Teoman, which looked at small town life through the eyes of a boy, Gitmek / My Marlon and Brando by Hüseyin Karabey about an utopic but obstinate (at least in her part) love between a Turkish woman and an Iraqi Kurd and Dervis Zaim’s Nokta/ Dot, an experiment in applying the art of calligraphy to cinema.

But Kars was also where cultures met. Although it may take some more years to involve more of the lower class and uneducated locals in this particular event that for the moment has a large following of the middle class citizens and the students, participation of the friendly and not so friendly neighbouring countries was remarkable. Cinema for Peace program, a joint project of Anatolian Culture and the Corporation of Gyumri City Research Center invited students from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to Kars for a workshop about pacifist documentary. Docu-travel documentary workshop also brought together students of different nations, Ukrania, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey under the tutorship of experts from these regions to explore the rich culture of the area. Animation experts from Europe came to work with elementary school children who displayed remarkable talent. The products of the workshops were shown to the audience on the closing night.

Coupled with the unspoiled local hospitality, the excellent programs of excursions arranged by the festival to take the participants on a journey of history (such as the ruins of Ani or Mount Ararat) and the evening concerts that ranged from Turkish alternative rock of ‘Replicas’ (the music of Kutlug Ataman’s iki Genç Kiz/ Two Girls) to Kurdish ballads of Aynur (famous with her performance in Fatih Akin’s music documentary, Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul),Kars was the place to be.

This year’s winners were:

Golden Goose Award: Desierto Adantro /Desert Within by Rodrigo Pla (Mexico) about crime and conscience

Silver Goose Award: Sonbahar/Autumn by Özcan Alper (Turkey) about the last days of a young political prisoner, which also received the SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics’ Award)

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