Hair, New Turkish Cinema.

Fate brings together two unhappy people in this drama from Turkish filmmaker Tayfun Pirselimoglu. Hamdi (Ayberk Pekcan) makes and sells wigs from a small shop in Istanbul. Hamdi isn’t much of a businessman, and doesn’t care much about his shop — or anything else for that matter since he was diagnosed with cancer. One day, a middle-aged woman named Meryem (Nazan Kesal) comes into Hamdi’s shop; she has long and beautiful hair, and informs him that she wants to sell it. Hamdi is struck by the woman’s barely concealed anger and sadness, and he wants to know more about her.

The Metropolis Association and the Izmir Cinema Association, in partnership with the Turkish Embassy in Lebanon, are glad to present the 2nd edition of the cycle New Turkish Cinema. 12 films of different genres will be screened at Metropolis Empire Sofil between the 5th and the 11th of March 2012, including a special selection of the reclaimed director Fatih Akin.

The festival will be opened with Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s film Once upon a time in Anatolia (winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival in 2011). The audience will also have the chance to see the latest film of Tyfun Piselimoglu Hair, as well as the favorites of the Turkish film festival such as What Remains by Cigdem Vitrinel, Zephyr by Belma Bas and Cosmos by Reha Erdem. In addition to this, the cycle will present the debut film of Seren Yuce Majority (winner of the Lion of the Future, Venice Film Festival 2010).

A special selection of the reclaimed director Fatih Akin will be selected: the romantic comedy In July (2000), the awarded Torino (2002), the reclaimed Head-On (winner of the Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival 2004) and the documentary Crossing the Bridge: the Sound of Istanbul (2005).