Istanbul Modern Cinema’s international project “Mind the Gap”, supported by Türk Tuborg, continues with its second program. This project aims to provide more opportunities for women filmmakers. The second program of the project is titled “From Dream to Matter” and will take place between October 26-29.
Inspired by the exhibition “We are always here”, which focuses on the work of women artists in its collection, Istanbul Modern Cinema continues this project that draws attention to gender inequality in the film industry. The “From Dream to Matter” program aims to contribute to a greater presence of women in the film industry, with a particular focus on production design and art direction.
“From Dream to Matter” Selection of 10 Films by Billur Turan
The 10-film selection “From Dream to Matter”, which features the designs of women art directors from world and Turkish cinema, was prepared by Billur Turan, a production designer and art director who has worked on important films such as Anatolian Leopard, Cemil Show and Aftersun.
The selection includes newly restored films by Ingmar Bergman (Screams and Whispers, 1972) and Wim Wenders (The Sky Over Berlin, 1987), as well as Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year. The selection will also include the Tayfun Pirselimoğlu film Kerr, for which Natali Yeres was awarded “Best Art Direction” at this year’s Siyad awards. Pirselimoğlu and Yeres will attend the screening.
Billur Turan will also organize a workshop on her career and profession as part of the program.
From Dream to Matter Film Program: October 26-29
ANATOMY OF A FALL
France, 2023
Director Justine Triet
Cast: Sandra Hüller, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado-Graner
This year’s Palme d’Or winner at Cannes is a bleak and powerful courtroom drama that delves into the intricacies of a marriage. It follows a thriller in which Sandra, a successful writer, is accused of murdering her husband, who is found dead outside their home in the French Alps. The film escapes both the law’s search for truth and moral absolutes, revealing the jealousy, ego and past traumas within the relationship. The main witness in the case is the couple’s 11-year-old blind son. Triet paints a psychologically rich portrait of a woman with a feminist touch, and Hüller crowns her with a riveting performance.
October 27, 2023, Friday 19.00
October 28, 2023, Saturday 15.00
FAVORITE OF THE PALACE
Ireland, UK, USA, 2018
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Olivia Colman, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, is preoccupied with the war in which the country she rules is engaged on behalf of Queen Anne of England, whose health is deteriorating during the Anglo-French war of the 1700s. Meanwhile, Abigail, hired as a maid, wins the queen’s favor. In the face of this situation, the rivalry between the two women will gradually increase. The tragicomic story of these three women, played by master actors, was nominated for ten Academy Awards. The film’s art director Fiona Crombie transformed a 17th-century country house into a palace using secret passages and a huge facade.
Sunday, October 29, 2023, 13.00
THE SKY OVER BERLIN
Germany, 1987
Director: Wim Wenders
Cast: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander
Two angels Damiel and Cassiel hover in the skies above Berlin, listening to the inner voices of the people below. Damiel is so moved by the trapeze artist Marion’s worries and weaknesses about life that he begins to frequent the circus where she works. He has to be human in order to feel. Inviting the audience into a dream world, the film also reveals Germany’s reckoning with the past and the existential questioning of its people two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The film will be screened in restored 4K quality.
October 26, 2023, Thursday 14.00
October 29, 2023, Sunday 15.00
THE SERVANT
South Korea, 2016
Director: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Kim Min-hee, Ha Jung-woo, Jo Jin-woong
The Maid, which earned South Korean auteur director Park Chan-wook a Palme d’Or nomination at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, is an erotic thriller set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea. In the movie, we witness the intriguing relationships between a rich young Japanese woman, a Korean man who tries to deceive her and seize her wealth, and the Korean maid hired by the man. The Maid is a feast that surprises the viewer at every moment within its gripping plot, featuring astute direction, eye-catching sets, elaborate locations and a superior aesthetic sense enriched by luxurious costumes.
Sunday, October 29, 2023, 17.30
SCREAMS AND WHISPERS
Sweden, 1972
Director Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Harriet Andersson, Kari Sylwan, Ingrid Thulin
Set in 19th century Sweden, Karin and Maria confront their own fears and dishonesty as they care for their sister Agnes, who is battling cancer. Cinematographer Sven Nykvist won an Oscar for his color design, sound design and the decor and mise-en-scène of the abandoned mansion have a special place in the history of cinema. This psychological thriller, which takes its title from the criticism of a Mozart sonata, has a bold form and a dark world that makes you feel death intimately. This masterpiece, which Bergman described as “a work of music”, offers an even more mesmerizing experience with its latest restoration.
October 26, 2023, Thursday 11.00
October 28, 2023, Saturday 13.00
KERR
Turkey, Greece, France, 2021
Director: Tayfun Pirselimoğlu
Cast: Erdem Senocak, Jale Arikan, Riza Akin
Can returns to his old home after a long time for his father’s funeral and witnesses an unexpected murder. After the incident, he cannot leave the town and finds himself in a strange and uncanny vortex. She is terrified as she confronts the unknown crime she has been accused of. Moreover, a curfew has been declared across the country. Adapted from Pirselimoğlu’s own novel, this movie turns into a dark and absurd thriller with a Kafkaesque narrative. This timeless town in limbo, created by artistic director Natali Yeres, offers an allegory of Turkey.
October 26, 2023, Thursday 17.00
SHORTS
BLAST CITY
Belgium, 1968
Director: Chantal Akerman
The entire movie, which Akerman shot when she was 18, takes place in a cramped kitchen. It ironically tells the story of a woman trapped within boundaries, especially in the kitchen, who paves her way to freedom through an act of destruction. The protagonist of this harsh and tragicomic story is the director himself, who plays the character of a slapstick comedy.
AFTERNOON TRAPS
USA, 1943
Directors: Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid
The flower, the key, the open door, the knife in the bread, the missed phone call, the figure in the mirror… All of these are the visions of a woman who has fallen into a kind of nightmare, what flows through her consciousness. Considered a pioneer of independent cinema, Deren’s unforgettable surreal, avant-garde film, shot with her husband, won the Grand Prix for 16 mm at the Cannes Film Festival.
INSIDE
England, 2006
Director: Ursula Mayer
The film follows two women as they wander through the London home of architect Ernö Goldfinger and his wife Ursula, which contains a collection of famous 20th-century art. The two women never meet, they walk up and down the stairs, touch the objects in the rooms. What really brings them together is Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture. The film emphasizes the lack of women in architecture and cinema.
FURRY BREAKFAST
England, 2008
Director: Ursula Mayer
The film imagines a meeting between three iconic female artists, Dora Maar, Meret Oppenheim and Josephine Baker, in a modernist glass house from the 70s. In an enigmatic game, the three women engage with objects instead of interacting directly. Shot in 16mm, this film is based on the idea of expanding dialogues with objects, recalling the idea of Surrealism.
SOFT FABRICS
England, 2004
Director: Daria Martin
This 16mm film, shot at the Artificial Intelligence Lab at the University of Zurich, introduces a man and woman, performance artists, to body-aware robots that have learned to function through their own body experiences. They dance together. The film offers a new perspective on the modernist concept of “man and machine”.
Thursday, October 26, 13.00
