Taner Birsel
A documentary about the shooting session of the film "Once Upon A Time in Anatolia" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. 'Once Upon A Time in Anatolia' had been shot in about 11 weeks in the steppes of middle Anatolia close to "Keskin", a middle Anatolian town next to the city of Kirikkale.
Hasret has been seeing the same nightmare for some time, but she keeps living unaware that what she sees is actually remembering. A 30-year-old woman who works in a News Channel, living alone in the flat left by her musician parents who died in a car crash twenty years ago. Is it? The question creeps into her mind, and then (or maybe even before) her life through recurring nightmares: Is it possible that her parents did not die in a car crash?
In 1950, amidst the ravages of the Korean War, Sergeant Süleyman stumbles upon a a half-frozen little girl, with no parents and no help in sight. Frantic, scared and on the verge of death, this little girl captures the heart of Süleyman, who risks his own life to save her, smuggling her into his Army base and out of harms way. Not knowing her name and unable to communicate with her, Süleyman names her Ayla, in reminiscence of the moon on the fateful night during which they met. The two form an instantaneous and inseparable bond, and Ayla, almost effortlessly, brings an uncanny joy to the Turkish brigade in the grip of war. As the war comes to a close however, Süleyman's brigade is told that they will be returning home. Süleyman cannot bear abandoning Ayla, and does everything within his power to take her with him. After repeated failure, he is forced to give Ayla to an orphanage, but doesn't give up on the hope of one day reuniting with her. Will the two ever get back together?
When her husband Cemal is arrested in Romania, Emine is left alone with their child who needs immediate surgery. She takes a job as a needle worker at a garment workshop where she comes across Ziya, her husband's former boss. He can't stay indifferent when he learns what the woman he once fancied is going through. When Cemal returns months later, he finds Emine working at the garment workshop and their son healthy. A hospital bill he accidentally sees reveals that Ziya has paid for the surgery and Emine hid this fact. Will Cemal, who already blames Ziya for what he went through and is extremely jealous of Emine, be able to confront this situation or choose to ignore it?
In a small village near Erzincan (Turkey) young Mert is about to get traditionally circumcised, but the family does not have the money to follow up with the circumcision celebration. The family wants to be able to serve lamb meat to the guests of the celebration. Mert's older sister scares him that if they cannot afford a lamb the father will slaughter him instead.
In a small Turkish town, two young tuberculous poets try to survive while publishing their poems. As they both fall in love, their life would never be the same.
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body's exact location. As the group continues looking, its members can't help but chat among themselves about both trivia and their deepest concerns in an investigation that is proving more trying than any of them expected.
The peaceful cohabitation of two 30-something bachelors is disrupted when they both fall in love with the charming young woman who moves in with them.
A painter with a turbulent history, fiercely committed to his ideals and still averse to settling down despite his 70 years; a lawyer who packed in his job after suffering a heart attack and now pursues a quiet life looking after his pet snail; a doctor already disenchanted with his profession and now discarded by his wife; a career woman braving life on her own, who has made loneliness a life style. These characters are all patrons of Black & White, an Ankara bar that has been around for 25 years, and in a sense the bar is their last haven. The owner, meanwhile, is the irritable, easily offended but utterly lovable Faruk... Black & White is a film about the awareness of growing old, friendship, sensitivity and the finer details of life.
In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.
Four 40-something friends are haunted by the violent past of a divided Cyprus. Temel wants desperately to speak about the crimes of vengeance he committed as a teenager. He would like to confess about the bodies buried in the muddy patch of a dried-up salt lake, but fear holds him back from even going there. Ali participates in Temel's UN projects aimed at defusing tension between Cyprus' Greek and Turkish communities....
A man suspects his wife of being unfaithful, but he's not prepared for what her confession will do to him.
The film is set in present-day Istanbul. Selim is a shop owner in his early forties. He sells clothing for men in his shop situated in one of the back streets of Istanbul. Selim is a family man who has devoted his life to his home and his work. He lives with his wife Ayla, his six-year-old daughter Esma and his old father in a simple flat in and old, modest neighbourhood. He has warm relations with his family. He is an affectionate father. One of his neighbours, a young widow named Nihal tries to seduce Selim, but her flirtation leaves him cold. Selim is known for his honesty and integrity among his family and friends. He is a careful spender. As a little child, he has learned that money is not easily earned. He has no tolerance for petty "trickery" met in daily life. One day, Selim finds a bag full of dollar bills (approximately 500,000$) in a cab. From that day on, Selim finds himself in a bewildered state with a bag full of money on his hands.
