‘KURTULUŞ’ COMPETES FOR THE GOLDEN BEAR IN BERLIN…
Emin Alper’s latest film ‘Kurtuluş’ (Salvation) held its world premiere in the Main Competition of the 76th Berlin Film Festival on Sunday 15 February. At the Berlinale Palast, where the film was shown to audiences for the first time, lead actors Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ateş, Feyyaz Duman, Naz Göktan and Özlem Demir shared the excitement of the screening on the red carpet with Emin Alper. At the premiere of ‘Kurtuluş’, sold out days in advance, Emin Alper first thanked his entire crew and cast, then expressed his feelings about the film in these words: “Kurtuluş is a film about how a community can commit terrible crimes. History is full of such stories… and sadly, so is the present. Today we are witnessing the genocide Israel is committing in Gaza. The only thing that could stop these crimes is a strong response from the world, but we have abandoned Palestine. Whether they are the Western powers complicit in this crime or the autocratic states outside the West, we cannot trust governments. We must trust only ourselves and the peoples of the world; we must stay alert, rise up together and be the force for change.”
Seven years after Emin Alper’s ‘Kız Kardeşler’ (A Tale of Three Sisters) screened in the same section in 2019, ‘Kurtuluş’ has achieved the distinction of being the first production from Türkiye accepted into the Main Competition since then; the festival’s awards will be presented at a ceremony on the evening of 21 February. The cast of the director’s fifth feature includes Caner Cindoruk, Berkay Ateş, Feyyaz Duman, Naz Göktan, Özlem Taş, Eren Demir, Selim Akgül, Hichi Demi and Nazmi Karaman .
Focusing on a land dispute between the Hazeran clan of village guards and the Bezaris, who return to the village they were forced to leave years earlier, the film tells – in a tense atmosphere – of a power struggle fuelled by uncanny dreams and the story 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.
World sales for the film are handled by Paris-based Lucky Number, with distribution in Türkiye by Bir Film.
