Turkish movie biz looks to both Asia and Europe.

In a Turkish film industry that has faltered until very recently, the annual Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival has always lent a glimmer of hope and a hint of glamour to the region.

In the wake of changes to the business that are finally making it seem like Turkey might soon very well become a major power broker in the film biz, the atmosphere at the 44th edition of Antalya, which ended October 28 and was held in the resort town of Antalya, was both festive and optimistic.

The Turkish film biz in general has been showing signs of growth in recent months. Many attribute this to the Turkish Ministry of Culture, which two years ago made the decision to provide serious funding for the Turkish film industry. In the last year alone, nearly 40 feature films were produced and 34 films were released, capturing 51.7 percent of the total Turkish box office. This is a large increase over the usual annual production of roughly 20 movies just five years ago. While the 17 million Turkish Lira (U.S.$12.5 million) invested yearly by the Ministry of Culture may be mere peanuts compared to international standards, it's a big boost for Turkish films, whose budgets average between $500,000 and $1 million each.

As a result of this financial aid, the Turkish box office has of late been dominated by local productions. The top four films of 2006 were all Turkish in origin. They included Valley of the Wolves, which took in the equivalent of U.S.$20 million; The Class of Chaos, which made U.S.$9.4 million; The Magician, which made U.S.$9.3 million; and The Exam, which took in U.S.$5.7 million.

Jointly organized by the Foundation of Culture and Arts in Antalya (AKSAV) and the Foundation of Turkish Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TURSAK), Antalya also played host to the third edition of the International Eurasia Film Festival--which began as the international section of Antalya but quickly became a major global draw in its own right. Additionally, the Eurasia Film Market, a business offshoot of the festival, kicked off its second year at the 2007 event. A number of deals were made there, including the Jordan Movie Channel's purchase of a package of five Turkish films and Turkey's TRT selling programming to Hungarian and Greek TV.

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And while many were concerned that having a film market that leads directly into the American Film Market (AFM) in Santa Monica, California (see story on page 14), it seems that Antalya's decision to peg itself as the link between East and West, might very well be its saving grace. The festival boasted a strong turnout from the Far East--specifically from China and Hong Kong, including China Film Promotion International and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Antalya organizers even revealed that of the 70 stands at the market, 60 were from companies outside of Turkey. In total, more than 300 participants from 188 companies attended the Turkey-based event. More than 1,000 visitors, including producers and distributors, were also present.

For this year's event, Antalya created the Script Development Fund, a new resource with the goal of encouraging Turkish co-production initiatives. TURSAK (the festival's organizing committee) asked that co-producers (at least one of whom had to have been of Turkish origin) send in applications as well as screenplay treatments to the TURSAK Foundation in order to be considered. An electoral body from the Antalya Festival then chose the top five projects and invited the producers and scriptwriters of the chosen scripts to the festival to make presentations about their work and explain why their movie should win the U.S.$20,000 pot. The winner of the International Eurasia Film Festival Script Development Award was Cem Akas for 50 Reasons All In Her Eyes.

German actress Hanna Schygulla was on hand at the festival to accept a special Honor Award for her eclectic oeuvre and lifetime achievement. Schygulla has worked with pioneering directors of the New German Cinema movement, such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Wim Wenders.

Eurasia also paid homage to recently passed silver screen auteurs Ingmar Bergman and Michelangelo Antonioni. The festival honored the directors' impressive contributions to the film canon by showcasing some of their most famous works. Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage and Saraband were screened for Antalya attendees, as were Antonioni classics Beyond the Clouds and Blow Up.

Considered the Golden Orange Film Fest's "international gateway to the world," the Eurasia event opened with Ang Lee's Lust, Caution, the latest film from the Oscar-winning Brokeback Mountain director, and closed with Shekhar Kapur's Elizabeth: The Golden Age. Kapur also accepted a special Honor Award for his contributions to the film world. Other flicks that screened both in and out of competition included Control, a biopic about Joy Division lead singer Ian Curtis; Gus Van Sant's Paranoid Park; and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

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Continuing its focus on all things Asia, Eurasia featured 16 sections, including a Hong Kong corner entitled "The Dragon's Breath." Another segment was devoted to the booming Russian screen.

At the concluding awards ceremony, held at the Glass Pyramid concert hall, which featured the music of Ilhan Ersahin & Istanbul Session, celebrated guitarist Erkan Ogur and clarinet virtuoso Barbaros Erkose, winners of both Antalya and Eurasia awards were announced.

Golden Orange named Egg (Yumurta) as Best Film. The Turkish-Greek co-production from director Semih Kaplanoglu, which was made for U.S.$500,000, also won Best Script, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design. TV Network Digiturk also recognized Egg with a special award for Best Newcomer. Fatih Akin took home the Best Director prize for his Edge of Heaven. Best Actor and Actress awards went to Murat Han and Ozgu Namal for Bliss (Mutluluk). When it came time for the Eurasia portion of the evening, Israel's The Band's Visit (Bikur Ha-tizmoret) was named Best Film. The Best Director prize went to Abdellatatif Kechiche for The Secret of the Grain (La Graine et le Mulet). The critics awarded their statue to Under the Bombs (Sous les Bombes). A new feature of this year's Eurasia festival was a special jury prize from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC). Egg and Under the Bombs shared this award.

No documentary award was given by the Eurasia jury, which consisted of actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, director John Landis, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Russian composer Andrei Single, Turkish actress Lale Mansur and Chinese actress Hailu Qin, because they didn't feel that any of the docs up for the award were worthy of it.

From Turkey, Deniz Ziya Temeltas contributed to this story