BURNING DAYS

SYNOPSIS

Emre, a young and dedicated prosecutor, is newly appointed to a small town hit by a water crisis and political scandals. After an initial welcome, he experiences an increasing number of tense interactions and is reluctantly dragged into local politics. When Emre forms a bond with the owner of the local newspaper, pressure escalates under heated rumours.

Compassion is in almost as short supply as water in Emin Alper’s sardonic, seething parched parable about small-town corruption in chokingly patriarchal rural Turkey. Featuring a manhunt that echoes a wild boar hunt and a mirage-like lake whose waters may or may not be toxic, here, the cool filmmaking is subtler than the metaphors. But then, when it comes to homophobia, misogyny, masculine crisis and the other attendant cruelties of the depicted strongman-led society, these are not subtle times.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

Emin Alper is a Turkish director born in 1974. He was trained in economics and history and holds a Ph.D. in Modern Turkish History. His first feature, Beyond the Hill (2012), received numerous awards, including the Caligari Film Prize from the Berlin International Film Festival; it was named Best Film in the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. He teaches in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department at Istanbul Technical University.

FESTIVALS AND AWARDS

Cannes Film Festival 2022
International Competition: Best Film, Pula Film Festival 2022
Munich Film Festival 2022
Jerusalem Film Festival 2022
Chicago International Film Festival 2022

DESCRIPTION

BURNING DAYS (fic.) 
Director:
Emin Alper
Country: Turkey, France, Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Croatia
Year: 2022.
Runtime: 129’
Language: Turkish
Cast: Selahattin Pasali, Ekin Koç, Hatice Aslan
Production: 4 Film, Ay Yapim, Circe Films
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PROGRAMME: BALKAN HORIZONS

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