Turkish Cinema At Lincoln Center

 CAN (Raşit Çelikezer, Turkey)



by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

Starting this past Friday and running through May 10, the Film Society of Lincoln Center is presenting an ambitious survey of contemporary and classic cinema from Turkey. The Space Between: A Panorama of Cinema in Turkey is the largest retrospective of films from Turkey to be presented in the United States. The retrospective is produced by The Moon and Stars Project of The American Turkish Society and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Opening the festivities last week was the New York premiere of CAN (2011) directed by Raşit Çelikezer. The film was Turkey’s first ever entry at the Sundance Film Festival, receiving the Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision. This modern day love story, based in Istanbul, relates a heart wrenching tale of a young couple faced with infertility, who plot to illegally buy a child. The Closing Night film will be Özcan Alper’s THE FUTURE LASTS FOREVER (2011), the story of an Istanbul music student who travels the country to record traditional music and confront her past. “Turkey has an extraordinarily rich cinematic tradition that, despite the growing importance of that country on the world stage, has remained largely unknown to even the most dedicated American film goers”, opined Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Peña. “This 29-film series focuses especially on the many socially-engaged works--works often made under difficult and even dangerous conditions--that offered a counterpoint to Turkey's prolific commercial cinema.” For a complete description of the entire program, visit: www.filmlinc.com