‘Kurtuluş’ (Salvation), the eagerly awaited new film from Emin Alper, winner of many awards at national and international festivals, has been invited to the Main Competition of the 76th Berlin Film Festival. Set to hold its world premiere in Berlin, ‘Kurtuluş’ is the first production from Turkey to be selected for the Main Competition in seven years, since the director’s own ‘Kız Kardeşler’ (A Tale of Three Sisters) competed in the same section in 2019.
The fifth feature written and directed by Emin Alper, ‘Kurtuluş’ will go before the Golden Bear jury, chaired by master filmmaker Wim Wenders, at the festival, which runs from 12 to 22 February. The cast includes Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ateş, Feyyaz Duman, Naz Göktan, Özlem Taş, Eren Demir, Selim Akgül, Hichi Demi and Nazmi Karaman, among others.
Centred on a land conflict between the Hazeran clan of village guards and the Bezari, who return to the village they were forced to abandon years earlier, the film tells, in a tense atmosphere, of a power struggle fuelled by uncanny dreams and of a village that chases the promise of ‘salvation’.
Produced by Liman Film, ‘Kurtuluş’ counts Bir Film, Meltem Films, TS Productions, Circe Films, Horsefly Films and Second Land among its co-producers. Cinematography is by Ahmet Sesigürgil and Barış Aygen, with music by Christiaan Verbeek, production design by Nadide Argun Van Uden and editing by Özcan Vardar. Shot in the village of Kırkat in Batman and in Kıllit (Dereiçi) in Mardin village, the film was edited at İstanbul İmaj Stüdyoları, with picture post-production at Two Thirty Five (Greece) and Digital District (France), and sound post-production at Posta (the Netherlands).
Paris-based Lucky Number is handling world sales, with Bir Film distributing the film in Turkey.
