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BERLINALE 2005 Panorama

Turkey revisits its history

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In 1999, Yesim Ustaoglu was triumphing in Berlin with Journey to the Sun, her second feature-film, which was awarded the Blue Angel Award ( Best European Film) and the Peace Prize, before meeting an international public success. This year, the Turkish Director is back in Berlin, presenting Waiting for the Clouds [+see also:
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(Bulutlari Beklerken), her new feature film, in the Panorama section. She discloses some hidden gloomy part of 1st world war history. When ethnic purification and deportation was performed upon Greek inhabitants of Some Turkish villages, forcing them to a death-paved march on the road of exile. Through the concrete story of one of the survivors, the director explores the distress of a dismantled family and reveals one of the tragic and forgotten tragedies of History.

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In the seventies, Turkey is facing important political and social turmoil. A foreigner shows up in Trebolu and turns upside down the quiet routine of this Turkish remote village, disclosing terrible secrets, buried away since a fatefull winter of 1916. ‘It took me 5 years of intensive work, and much investments to make this film”, the director explained to Berlin public. “Besides research made in the Ottoman archives in Sofia as well as in Turkey history archives, I have met with women deported in Greece and with those, who remained in Turkey”. The film is also inspired from Tanama a biography by George Andreadis.

Waiting for the Clouds is produced by Silkroad Production (France) in co-production with Flying Moon Filmproduktion (Germany), Ustaoglu Production (Turkey) and Zalandünya (Turkey). Celluloid Dreams is in charge of international sales.

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(Translated from French)

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