Last week, newspapers and movie blogs ran a story on a change in the release date of director and writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon A Time in Anatolia). The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival will now be released on Sept. 23.
Nearly two months to its new release, why was it such an important piece of news? Because the Oscar race has begun, even here in Turkey. For a film to be eligible for the Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards, it needs to be screened at least one week in movie theaters throughout the year. And the deadline is Sept. 30. Hence the rush, hence the news value.
Turkey has been working toward being one of the contenders of the Best Foreign Language Film race since 1964. To no avail. The closest a Turkish film has come to being nominated was back in 2008 when Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys), again by Ceylan, was among the shortlist of nine films, eventually not making it to the five nominated movies.
Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)
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