"Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" by Nuri Bilge Ceylan at NYFF

Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da / Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
2011 | Turkey - Bosnia Herzegovina | 157 min
Turkish with English Subtitles
NYFF Main Slate | Sat, Oct 8, 5:30PM | Alice Tully Hall 

For further information click here

A Reception will follow at 9pm
The Walter Reade Theater, Furman Lounge - Plaza Level
(165 West 65 Street b/n Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue)

 Special thanks to Turkish Kitchen for sponsoring the reception

Ceylan is a sly and daring screen artist of the highest order and should draw wild praise with this new film for challenging both himself and us, the audience, with this lengthy, rigorous and masterly portrait of a night and day in the life of a murder investigation on his country’s Anatolian steppes. Dave Calhoun for Time Out London

Cast & Credits

Featuring: Muhammet Uzuner, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Taner Birsel, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Fırat Tanış, Ercan Kesal
Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Written by: Ercan Kesal, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Produced by: Zeynep Özbatur Atakan
Co-Produced by: Mirsad Purivatra (Prod2006), Eda Arıkan (1000 volt), İbrahim Şahin (TRT), Müge Kolat (İmaj), Murat Akdilek (Fida Film), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (NBC Film)

Life in a small town is akin to journeying in the middle of the steppes: the sense that "something new and different" will spring up behind every hill, but always unerringly similar, tapering, vanishing or lingering monotonous roads...

Festivals and Awards
 
2011   Vancouver International Film Festival2011   Toronto International Film Festival
2011   64th Cannes Film Festival: Grand Prix (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) and nominated for the    Palme d’Or
2011   Sarajevo Film Festivals

Select Reviews

New York Times, "Inquiry Into a Haunting Land Could Grab Palme d'Or", by Manohla Dargis
Variety, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia", by Justin Chang
Indiewire, "'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia' is a Mesmerizing Police Procedural", by Eric Kohn

 About the Director

 Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul in 1959 and was brought up in the rural region of Antelonia. After initially studying engineering, he changed track and studied filmmaking at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul. An accomplished photographer, he was first noticed for his 1995 short film Koza (The Cocoon), which was a Cannes Film Festival selection, later he shot his first full-length film, Kasaba (The Small Town), in 1997. The Small Town won the Special Prize of the Jury at the Nantes Film Festival, the Caligari Award at the Berlin Film Festival, and the Best Film and Best Cinematography Awards at Cologne Film Festival. Ceylan’s second feature film, Mayıs Sıkıntısı (Clouds of May) won 18 international awards including Best Film at Premiere Plans Film Festival, and the International Competition Section of the 19th International İstanbul Film Festival. Ceylan’s Uzak (Distant) won the Grand Prix and Best Actor Awards at Cannes Film Festival in 2003, and Uç Maymun (Three Monkeys) won the Best Dricetor prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

Filmography

1995     Koza  / The Cocoon (short)
1997     Kasaba / The Small Town
1999     Mayıs Sıkıntısı / Clouds of May
2002     Uzak / Distant
2006     İklimler / Climates
2008     Uç Maymun / Three Monkeys
2011     Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da / Once Upon a Time in Anatolia