The expanding Antalya Film Forum dedicated to fostering a new generation of Turkish directors seems poised to really have the goods this year for buyers and festival programmers who would like to know what’s coming down the pike.
The Antalya Film Festival’s industry section – which will run online Oct. 6-8 — features a fresh batch of projects spanning a wide range of often innovative genres mostly germinated from rookie producer-director teams that provides a sharp snapshot “of what’s to come,” vows the Forum’s new co-chief Müge Özen.
Özen, who is a young but experienced producer of standout titles from Turkey such as recent Istanbul hip-hop scene drama “When I’m Done Dying,” which was a Forum project in 2017, has now taken the section’s reins with Pınar Evrenosoğlu.
She points out that “the selection is very different from previous years” since seven out of the eight feature projects being pitched at the Forum’s in-development platform hail from first-time directors and producer teams.
One exception is the mockumentary “A Smile Worthwhile,”A comedy about a young female lawyer who laughs at protesters while she defends them in a police station. The video then goes viral, splitting the country with two hashtags. The mockumentary is directed by Sefa Öztürk, whose “Trust”Premiered in Antalya, 2018, and was toured on the fest circuit.
These seven projects were created by the Turkish rookies “Peer Through the Skin,”This sci-fi thriller is about an explosion that occurs in an impoverished mining community. A group of UFO believers claims it is connected with extraterrestrials. To make ends meet, the desperate townpeople sell their bodies to a criminal organization. “Thursday Night Is Too Dark,”A film noir that is absurdist and features comedy elements. It will feature two normal cops who work night shifts. The film will be shot in black-and-white. “Tussifed,”A coming-of-age drama for youth that captures the spirit and politics of Ankara (the Turkish capital), and the political changes that began there in 2003 with the rise of Islamists as government officials; “Three Meters,”A multi-layered drama about war, property and land.
Rounding off the Forum’s in-development platform selection are ecological drama “Seed,”This law, which criminalized non-patented heirloom seed sales, has led to a drastic transformation in agriculture practice in Turkey and elsewhere. “Lodos Boys,” a drama depicting the dark side of Istanbul through the tale of young boys who collect and sell valuables that wash up on the city’s shores after a strong southern wind blows; and “After Rain,”A drama about gender identity in which Mustafa (a barber) is shocked to discover that his estranged son had a sex altercation after seeing his dead body.
Feature projects being pitched at Antalya were selected by Göteborg Film Festival programmer Freddy Olsson, who is also a producer; former sales agent Ilaria Gomarasca, who is a manager at the First Cut Lab dedicated to projects in post; and Turkish director Ramin Matin (“Siren’s Call”
Forum Plus is an initiative that includes workshops, panels and talks.
These additional events will be held on Oct. 6th and 7th. They include a masterclass in screen adaptations literary works by Olivia Hetreed (BAFTA-nominated British writer), who has adapted “Girl With a Pearl Earring”And “Wuthering Heights”For film and will also discuss adaptations of Turkish literature. Ed Guiney, an Oscar-nominated British producer, will also be speaking on producing a successful TV series.“The Favourite”), who adapted Sally Rooney’s novel “Normal People”In the eponymous BBC and Hulu recent show.
Last year, the Antalya Film forum expanded into TV series by offering a platform for short series pitches.
APostLab will offer a post-production workshop to film professionals. EAVE, European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs association, will provide a workshop marketing and audience development. Sessions will include sessions on poster design and color correction.
With Forum Plus Antalya’s industry side is looking to become more well-rounded and “welcoming” for the industry, says Özen, who is planning to expand this strand next year when it will go back to being an in-person event.