Semih Kaplanoglu

Plot
After several years of numbly mourning his parents death, 26 year old Selim (Cevik) takes a chance on the US lottery for passports and wins. He decides to sell the family olive grove to raise enough money to live in Manhattan and to break all roots to Turkey, leaving his girlfriend behind. When Selim’s aged grand uncle, Nasuhi (Keskin) returns from Russia after 58 years he asks Selim to visit with him the olive grove of his youth. Before they depart, Nasuhi finds a beaten Russian girl, Olga (Bielska) who was robbed when she tried to sell herself to raise money to continue her own search for her sea faring father. The three of them visit the olive grove and still standing farmhouse, which Nasuhi immediately starts to repair. Upset with his grand uncles enthusiasm Selim quickly finds a developer who buys the olive grove and reluctantly takes title to the farmhouse as well.Read More »

Zeynep, Tülin Özen works in a hotel as a housekeeper. But she suffers hell on earth because of her father’s behavior. She only talks to Mustafa, ‘Engin Dogan’ who works in the same hotel and he is interested in Zeynep. She is not interested in Mustafa who is younger than Zeynep, but she is not indifferent to him. While Zeynep is trying to make a bonfire of bad situation, Selçuk, Budak Akalin who lives on the other side of city is a voice technician. He feels guilty after his wife’s death. The suitcase which has his wife’s dresses changes the Zeynep’s destiny.Read More »

Quote:
Poet Yusuf (35-38) returns to his childhood hometown, which he hadn’t visited for years, upon his mother’s death. He is faced with a neglected, crumbling house. Ayla, a young girl (17-19) awaits him there. Yusuf has been unaware of the existence of this distant relation who had been living with his mother for five years; He stays by his dead mother’s bedside for a while on the morning of his return. Ayla’s presence alleviates the emotions evoked by death to an extent. But how will Yusuf cope with the guilt that embraces him after the funeral? Will he manage to overcome it? The maternal household’s chattels, and everyday habits, the staid rhythm of the provinces and the spaces filled with ghosts&; The town he once had left to escape all this, re-enchants Yusuf. Yusuf finds out on the day he’s due to return to Istanbul that he is obliged to perform the sacrifice his mother had been prevented by death from fulfilling. Ayla pressures him.Read More »

This film was inspired by a chapter from the Quran. It is a post-apocalyptic story set in a world where those that survive, are divided between the remnants of cities and agricultural zones. Both of these factions are ruled by corporations and populated by elites. In the areas called Dead Lands, genetically incompatible immigrants suffer from drought and epidemics.Read More »

Quote:
In a competition where no title had won widespread approval, a superb film finally arrived, drawing more than a few tears of emotion from Berlin festival-goers: acclaimed director Semih Kaplanoglu’s German/Turkish co-production Honey. The third instalment in the Yusuf trilogy, closes a journey backwards in time that began with Egg, followed by Milk.Read More »

Quote:
A high school graduate, Yusuf could not pass the university entrance exam. Writing poetry is his greatest passion and some of his poems are being printed in various obscure literary journals. But neither these poems, nor the rapidly falling price of the milk they sell, are being of any benefit to Yusuf and Zehra’s lives. When Yusuf finds out about Zehra’s secret affair with the town’s stationmaster he gets disconcerted. Will he find the way to cope with his anxiety for the unknown future, the rapid change that he is going through and the pain of taking a step into adulthood and leaving his youth behind?Read More »