#Directed by Ceyda Torun

[arinewman7]

Still from Kedi

Directed by Ceyda Torun

2016

[diyanaeatsalotagain]

"Kedi", directed by Ceyda Torun, 2016

[pceub]

kedi (2016)

directed by ceyda torun

[stainedglassgardens]

Favourite woman-directed films I saw in 2018

It’s funny because when the year started I thought I could never watch 52 films by women, considering that I usually barely watch fifty films a year, total. Then I watched 306 new-to-me films, out of which 105 were directed by women.

I saw so many good woman-directed films that I thought it would be hard to choose ten to make this list, but then I realised that I only had to include those films that absolutely blew my mind, and bam! Ten already.

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről, Ildikó Enyedi, 2017)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

River of Grass (Kelly Reichardt, 1994)

The Midnight Swim (Sarah Adina Smith, 2014)

Raw (Grave, Julia Ducournau, 2016)

M.F.A. (Natalia Leite, 2017)

Daisies (Sedmikrásky, Věra Chytilová, 1966)

Always Shine (Sophia Takal, 2016)

Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017)

Very broadly speaking, these ten can be divided into three categories. There’s gorey, imaginative, feminist genre -- Revenge, M.F.A., Raw; there’s visually and/or narratively boundary-expanding cinema -- Daisies, Always Shine, The Midnight Swim, We Need to Talk About Kevin, On Body and Soul; and then there are the indie stories about marginalised people, which might be my favourites of all -- here, River of Grass and Winter’s Bone.

When 2018 started I had only seen one film by Kelly Reichardt, and none by Debra Granik. Now they’re both among my favourite filmmakers. When I saw my first Kelly Reichardt film, years ago, I thought Wow, some people do make films about actual people. I’ve seen all of them now, and I liked all of them, but it wasn’t that hard picking River of Grass for this list -- there’s something so Carson McCullers, so Flannery O’Connor about the story, and visually it is so dreamlike.

I put Debra Granik together with Kelly Reichardt because their stories feel similar in many ways (and both feel similar to Agnès Varda’s), and seeing Winter’s Bone I was just completely blown away. It’s one of those films I would unreservedly call a masterpiece, and recommend to absolutely everyone. What places it above Leave No Trace (which I put as my number one new release of 2018) is the plot, and the ending especially, both completely surreal and mundane, like a cherry on top of spectacular acting and visuals worthy of Dorothea Lange .

Another slap in the face was We Need to Talk About Kevin. Together with a few other films in this list, it made me ponder what film can really do in terms of creating intricate, media-specific experiences that ultimately serve to provide a more rounded understanding of reality and what it means to be a person. We Need to Talk About Kevin was the first of these and probably had the biggest impact on me. Lynne Ramsay really is one of the few people with a completely unique vision.

I put Daisies, Always Shine, The Midnight Swim and On Body and Soul in the same category, although they don’t have a lot in common with each other, because they all have this aspect of visual and/or narrative boundary-pushing. It is so incredible that Daisies still feels like that to a first-time viewer today, even though it came out more than fifty years ago.

I saw Always Shine and The Midnight Swim around the same time and keep associating them in my mind for the nods to David Lynch, indie feel, and non-linear storytelling. Probably The Midnight Swim impressed me more, because it was the first time (and only, so far) that I saw a first-person narrative that looked quite like that.

On Body and Soul belongs in the same area of this mental map mainly because of the dream sequences. Before I saw it I probably would have found it impossible to talk about dreams in a way that didn’t feel recycled, but this managed just that. The juxtaposition of the wild forest animals at night with the cattle in the slaughterhouse during the day walks such a fine line between surrealism and social commentary, and the slaughterhouse sequences are all filmed with such incredible tact -- which only serves to make them more shocking.

Then there are the great genre films. Raw was fantastic, in part because it is so rare for a French person such as myself to find a French film to her liking, but also because everything about it felt so different -- it is firmly set in the horror genre, but it also draws from such a wide range of influences. M.F.A. and Revenge mirror each other in many ways, because they’re both rape-revenge films, a sub-genre I am incredibly glad and grateful that women are tackling in such interesting and challenging ways. I liked M.F.A. better, maybe, because it felt more real, and the ending better-thought-out, but if anything, I’d recommend a double-feature night to watch both.

Great films that didn’t quite make the cut, in no particular order:

Addicted to Fresno (Jamie Babbit, 2015): best sex comedy about actual grown-ups

I Think We’re Alone Now (Reed Morano, 2018): best post-apocalyptic “everyone is gone from the surface of the Earth but us” film

Ginger & Rosa (Sally Potter, 2012): best Cold-War England drama

Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010) : best contemplative Western

Into the Forest (Patricia Rozema, 2015): best post-apocalyptic survivalist feminist film

Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, Agnès Varda, 1984) : best film shot in my area of France

Khadak (Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, 2006): best science fiction film that takes place in Mongolia

Over time, I’m finding it easier and easier to watch more woman-directed films, both because I know where to look and because I’ll find it easier to relax and get into any genre at all when I know there’ll be infinitely less chance of rampant misogyny ruining an otherwise perfectly good film. It seems barely believable, now, to think that five years ago I didn’t know one single woman director, when clearly the quality and the variety are there, the work is there, and it stands so tall on its own.

Full 105-film list under the cut!

The Bad Batch (Ana Lily Amirpour, 2016)

Gas Food Lodging (Allison Anders, 1992)

Red Road (Andrea Arnold, 2006)

American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016)

A United Kingdom (Amma Asante, 2016)

Addicted to Fresno (Jamie Babbit, 2015)

The Selfish Giant (Clio Barnard, 2013)

Novitiate (Maggie Betts, 2017)

Bird Box (Susanne Bier, 2018)

Blue My Mind (Lisa Brühlmann, 2017)

Daisies (Sedmikrásky, Věra Chytilová, 1966)

The Kindergarten Teacher (Sara Colangelo, 2018)

Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983)

Palo Alto (Gia Coppola, 2013)

Lick the Star (Sofia Coppola, 1998)

The Beguiled (Sofia Coppola, 2017)

17 GIrls (17 Filles, Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, 2011)

The Edge of Seventeen (Kelly Fremon Craig, 2016)

Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story (Alexandra Dean, 2017)

Madeline’s Madeline (Josephine Decker, 2018)

Desert Hearts (Donna Deitch, 1985)

Raw (Grave, Julia Ducournau, 2016)

On Body and Soul (Testről és lélekről, Ildikó Enyedi, 2017)

Mustang (Deniz Gamze Ergüven, 2015)

Revenge (Coralie Fargeat, 2017)

The Spy Who Dumped Me (Susanna Fogel, 2018)

Deidra and Laney Rob a Train (Sydney Freeland, 2017)

Twinsters (Samantha Futerman and Ryan Miyamoto, 2015)

The Trader (Sovdagari, Tamta Gabrichidze, 2018)

The Lifeguard (Liz W. Garcia, 2013)

Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017)

They (Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, 2017)

Tig (Kristina Goolsby and Ashley York, 2015)

The Deuce of Spades (Faith Granger, 2011)

Winter’s Bone (Debra Granik, 2010)

Leave No Trace (Debra Granik, 2018)

Casting JonBenet (Kitty Green, 2017)

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982)

Axolotl Overkill (Helene Hegemann, 2017)

The Firefly (La Luciérnaga, Ana Maria Hermida, 2015)

Beach Rats (Eliza Hittman, 2017)

The Fits (Anna Rose Holmer, 2015)

The Land of Steady Habits (Nicole Holofcener, 2018)

Slums of Beverly Hills (Tamara Jenkins, 1998)

Private Life (Tamara Jenkins, 2018)

The Quiet Hour (Stéphanie Joalland, 2014)

Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson, 2016)

By the Sea (Angelina Jolie, 2015)

Sweet Bean (あん, An, Naomi Kawase, 2015)

Lovesong (So Yong Kim, 2016)

I Feel Pretty (Abby Kohn, 2018)

Radius (Caroline Labrèche and Steeve Léonard, 2017)

Irreplaceable You (Stephanie Laing, 2018)

The Feels (Jenée LaMarque, 2017)

Breathe (Respire, Mélanie Laurent, 2014)

Galveston (Mélanie Laurent, 2018)

Octavio is Dead! (Sook-Yin Lee, 2018)

M.F.A. (Natalia Leite, 2017)

Aloft (Claudia Llosa, 2014)

The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond (Jodie Markell, 2008)

A New Leaf (Elaine May, 1971)

Dude (Olivia Milch, 2018)

The Dressmaker (Jocelyn Moorhouse, 2015)

I Think We’re Alone Now (Reed Morano, 2018)

Woodshock (Kate and Laura Mulleavy, 2017)

Girl Asleep (Rosemary Myers, 2015)

Tout ce qui brille (Géraldine Nakache and Hervé Mimran, 2010)

I Am Not a Witch (Rungano Nyoni, 2017)

Ginger & Rosa (Sally Potter, 2012)

Beneath the Harvest Sky (Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly, 2013)

Angels Wear White (嘉年华, Vivian Qu, 2017)

Cargo (Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke, 2017)

We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay, 2011)

You Were Never Really Here (Lynne Ramsay, 2017)

River of Grass (Kelly Reichardt, 1994)

Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)

Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt, 2010)

Night Moves (Kelly Reichardt, 2013)

Certain Women (Kelly Reichardt, 2016)

Into the Forest (Patricia Rozema, 2015)

Before I Fall (Ry Russo-Young, 2017)

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (Lorene Scafaria, 2012)

The Riot Club (Lone Scherfig, 2014)

Cracks (Jordan Scott, 2009)

Everything Beautiful is Far Away (Pete Ohs and Andrea Sisson, 2017)

Waitress (Adrienne Shelly, 2007)

Laggies (Lynn Shelton, 2014)

Outside In (Lynn Shelton, 2017)

Berlin Syndrome (Cate Shortland, 2017)

Lipstick Under My Burkha (Alankrita Shrivastava, 2016)

The Midnight Swim (Sarah Adina Smith, 2014)

Buster’s Mal Heart (Sarah Adina Smith, 2016)

The Lure (Córki dancingu, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, 2015)

Always Shine (Sophia Takal, 2016)

Shirkers (Sandi Tan, 2018)

Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong (Emily Ting, 2015)

Kedi (Ceyda Torun, 2016)

Cléo from 5 to 7 (Cléo de 5 à 7, Agnès Varda, 1962)

Vagabond (Sans toit ni loi, Agnès Varda, 1984)

Love, Cecil (Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2018)

Jupiter Ascending (The Wachowskis, 2015)

Mr. Roosevelt (Noël Wells, 2017)

Woman Walks Ahead (Susanna White, 2017)

Khadak (Peter Brosens and Jessica Hope Woodworth, 2006)

Salesman (Albert Maysles, David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin, 1969)

[myanhedonia]

Kedi (2016) Directed by Ceyda Torun

[vfterluna]

“Life is beautiful... if you know how to live. You can love if your heart’s eye is open. Everything is beautiful if you look at it with love. If you can enjoy the presence of a cat, a bird, a flower... what can I say, all the world will be yours.”

Kedi (2017) directed by Ceyda Torun

[culturegazing]

Cinema | 52 Films Directed by Women

Women in Film had a challenge for anyone to pledge to watch 52 films directed by women in a year. Women should be given more opportunities to create films and be supported for their efforts. Directors deserve to be able to be called directors, no prefixes or suffixes. Attaching the word ‘female’ automatically makes us feel like females create certain types of films and males create another. Yes, they may be different, but not of lesser quality or ability. Filmmaking should not be based on gender identities and should be inclusive of all voices and opinions. To make it a practice that divides itself between genders, binary or non-binary, limits our exposure to art created by those who are human and essentially, those with the same structures for a brain and a heart. 

I hope that I won’t have to go out of my way to find films directed by women. I hope there will be an even distribution of films created by anyone where we don’t even have to think about what gender a director identifies themselves with. I hope that filmmaking transforms into an open and accepting industry that gives anyone the opportunity to share their stories in a non-restrictive way. Most of all, I hope that you, whatever you identify yourself as, are not afraid to create and express yourself in any form of art. 

Here is my 2018 list:

Frida (2002) directed by Julie Taymor

Mustang (2015) directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Sister (2012) directed by Ursula Meier

L’avenir (Things to Come) (2016) directed by Mia Hansen-Løve

Lady Bird (2017) directed by Greta Gerwig

Mikey and Nicky (1976) directed by Elaine May

Girl Asleep (2015) directed by Rosemary Meyers

Hannah Arendt (2012) directed by  Margarethe von Trotta

Le Père de mes enfants (Father of my Children) (2009) directed by  Mia Hansen-Løve

Old Joy (2006) directed by Kelly Reichardt

The Hurt Locker (2008) directed by Kathryn Bigelow

A Wrinkle in Time (2018) directed by Ava DuVernay

Mamma Mia (2008) directed by Phyllida Lloyd

Death Defying Acts (2007) directed by Gillian Armstrong

The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017) directed by Angela Workman

Breathe (2014) directed by Mélanie Laurent

Citizen Four (2014) directed by Laura Poitras,

Daria: Is it College Yet? (2002) directed by Karen Disher

Suffragette (2015) directed by Sarah Gavron

Whip It (2009) directed by Drew Barrymore

The Bookshop (2017) directed by Isabel Coixet

Bright Star (2009) directed by Jane Campion

Meek’s Cutoff (2010) directed by Kelly Reichardt

Mountain (2017) directed by Jennifer Peedom

Planetarium (2016) directed by Rebecca Zlotowski

Before the Leaves Fall (2014) directed by Mineko Okamoto

Madame Bovary (2014) directed by Sophie Barthes

Toni Erdmann (2016) directed by Maren Ade

The Dressmaker (2015) directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse

Design is One (2013) directed by Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra

Un beau dimanche (Going Away) (2013) directed by Nicole Garcia

The Tree (2010) directed by Julie Bertuccelli

An Angel at my Table (1990) directed by Jane Campion

Night Moves (2013) directed by Kelly Reichardt

Raw (2016) directed by Julia Ducournau

Ai Wei Wei: Never Sorry (2012) directed by Alison Klayman

Beach Rats (2017) directed by Eliza Hittman

Everything, Everything (2017) directed by Stella Meghie

Hou Lai De Wo Men / Us and Them (2018) directed by Rene Liu

Julie and Julia (2009) directed by Nora Ephron

Miss Stevens (2016) directed by Julia Hart

The Breadwinner (2017) directed by Nora Twomey

A Very Murray Christmas (2015) directed by Sofia Coppola

Set it Up (2018) directed by Claire Scanlon

To all the Boys I’ve Loved Before (20180 directed by Susan Johnson

Little Forest (2018) directed by Yim Soon Rye

The Proposal (2009) directed by Anne Fletcher

Girlhood (2014) directed by Celine Sciamma

6 Years (2015) directed by Hannah Fidell

Marie Antoinette (2006) directed by Sofia Coppola

Kedi (2016) directed by Ceyda Torun

Before I Fall (2017) directed by Ry Russo-Young 

[sevenclowds]

Hundreds of thousands of Turkish cats roam the metropolis of Istanbul freely. For thousands of years they’ve wandered in and out of people’s lives, becoming an essential part of the communities that make the city so rich. Claiming no owners, the cats of Istanbul live between two worlds, neither wild nor tame –and they bring joy and purpose to those people they choose to adopt. In Istanbul, cats are the mirrors to the people, allowing them to reflect on their lives in ways nothing else could.

Critics and internet cats agree - this cat documentary will charm its way into your heart and home as you fall in love with the cats in Istanbul. This film is a sophisticated take on your typical cat video that will both dazzle and educate.

In Theaters February 10th, 2017

Produced by Ceyda Torun and Charlie Wuppermann Directed by Ceyda Torun

Visit the official website: KEDI.OSCILLOSCOPE.NET

[oldfilmsflicker]

Films Directed By Women Coming Out (In The US) From Jan thru June

This was compiled using data from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Box Office Mojo. Keep in mind dates change and things get added. Also, most of these are going to be limited and/or VOD.

January 6th:

UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS (dir. Anna Foerster)

January 13th:

CLAIRE IN MOTION (dir. Lisa Robinson, Annie J. Howell)

January 20th:

STRIKE A POSE (dir. Ester Gould, Reijer Zwaan)

KEDI (dir. Ceyda Torun)

January 27th:

SOPHIE AND THE RISING SUN (dir. Maggie Greenwald)

February 1st: 

THE LURE (dir. Agnieszka Smoczynska)

February 10th:

SPEED SISTERS (dir. Amber Fares)

February 17th:

A UNITED KINGDOM (dir. Amma Asante)

LOVESONG (dir. So Yong Kim)

EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY (dir. Catalina Aguilar Mastretta)

March 3rd:

BEFORE I FALL (dir. Ry Russo-Young)

March 10th:

RAW (dir. Julia Ducournau)

March 24th:

THEIR FINEST (dir. Lone Scherfig)

March 31st:

THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE (dir. Niki Caro)

April 21st:

UNFORGETTABLE (dir. Denise Di Novi)

June 2nd: 

WONDER WOMAN (dir. Patty Jenkins)

June 16th: 

ROCK THAT BODY (dir. Lucia Aniello)

June 23rd: 

THE BEGUILED (dir. Sofia Coppola)

[thefrancais]

Who knew #istanbul was famous for being home to tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of street cats? I didn't, but thanks to the new documentary "Kedi" the world is becoming aware of how much these felines have become integral to the character of the city. Turkish filmmaker Ceyda Torun directed "Kedi," which is now playing in U.S. theaters. To find out how the film is going at the box office visit Nonfictionfilm.com #cats #streetcats #catsofistanbul #feline #film #films #filmmaking #filmmakers #movie #movies #documentary #documentaries #nowplaying #boxoffice

[kalafudra]

Kedi

Directed by Ceyda Torun

38/52 Films by Women

[independentfilme-blog]

New Post has been published on http://independentfilme.jetzt-24.de/kedi-official-us-release-trailer-1-2017-documentary/

Kedi Official US Release Trailer 1 (2017) - Documentary

Directed By: Ceyda Torun Kedi Official US Release Trailer 1 (2017) – Documentary A profile of an ancient city and its unique people, seen through the eyes of the most mysterious and beloved… source

The channel sponsor is: https://www.facebook.com/GoMovieSpace/

[njawaidofficial]

Savannah Film Fest: Aaron Sorkin, John Boyega, Robert Pattinson Among Oscar Hopefuls Set for 20th Edition (Exclusive)

http://styleveryday.com/2017/09/27/savannah-film-fest-aaron-sorkin-john-boyega-robert-pattinson-among-oscar-hopefuls-set-for-20th-edition-exclusive/

Savannah Film Fest: Aaron Sorkin, John Boyega, Robert Pattinson Among Oscar Hopefuls Set for 20th Edition (Exclusive)

Salma Hayek, Patrick Stewart and Holly Hunter and the directors of 10 contenders for the best documentary feature Oscar will also be honored.

A veritable phalanx of 2017 Oscar contenders — Detroit‘s John Boyega, The Big Sick‘s Holly Hunter, Good Time‘s Robert Pattinson, Beatriz at Dinner‘s Salma Hayek Pinault, Molly’s Game‘s Aaron Sorkin and Logan‘s Patrick Stewart, plus the directors of 10 top contenders for the best documentary feature Oscar — will head south to be honored as part of the blowout 20th anniversary edition of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

The nation’s largest university-run film festival will take place from Oct. 28-Nov. 4 on the Savannah campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, just as it has every year since 1997. In recent years, under the oversight of artistic director Christina Routhier, the fest, long known for its beautiful setting and Southern hospitality, also has become an important stop on the awards circuit.

Big-name guests will pick up honors following screenings of and conversations about their 2017 work that will be spread throughout the eight-day gathering: Boyega will receive the Vanguard Award; Hunter, the Icon Award; Pattinson, the Maverick Award; Pinault, the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award; Sorkin, the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award; and Stewart, the Legend of Cinema Award. Additional honorees, master classes, coffee talks, lectures, workshops, panel discussions and the full lineup for the fest’s 20th edition will be announced in the coming days.

The fest lineup will include a “Docs to Watch” sidebar, where many of the year’s best documentary features will be screened — and, for the fourth year in a row, I will moderate the “Docs to Watch Panel,” for which the fest is bringing in the directors of ten of those docs to discuss their work. The full 90-minute conversation will air exclusively on The Hollywood Reporter‘s website shortly after it takes place. (The 2014, 2015 and 2016 panels are still available for viewing.)

This year’s “Docs to Watch Panel” participants will be Evgeny Afineevsky, a past Oscar nominee for 2015’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, for Cries from Syria (HBO); Greg Barker for The Final Year (HBO); Bryan Fogel for Icarus (Netflix); Yance Ford for Strong Island (Netflix); Amanda Lipitz for Step (Fox Searchlight); Brett Morgen, a past Oscar nominee for 1999’s On the Ropes, for Jane (National Geographic); Jeff Orlowski for Chasing Coral (Netflix); Laura Poitras, a past Oscar nominee for 2006’s My Country, My Country and Oscar winner for 2014’s Citizenfour; Risk (Neon/Showtime); John Ridley, a past Oscar winner for the screenplay of 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, for Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 (Lincoln Square); and Ceyda Torun for Kedi (Oscilloscope).

Clockwise, from top left: Icarus; Chasing Coral; Jane; Kedi; Step; Risk; The Final Year; Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992; Strong Island; and Cries from Syria.

#20Th #Aaron #Among #Boyega #Edition #Exclusive #Fest #Film #Hopefuls #John #Oscar #Pattinson #Robert #Savannah #Set #Sorkin

[thekingsbuccaneer]

So, of the first ten films for my Women’s Film Night (I watched more, but I have those 10 listed separately) I watched six American movies and only one non-Western film. I really should make sure I find those non-Western films directed by women as well, so for next week I’m going to fit either Wolf and Sheep by Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat or Kedi by Turkish director Ceyda Torun in my schedule. I also need to figure out if there’s a selection available on Netflix, because I seem to watch mostly American films on there. Any tips or recommendations are always welcome~ :)

[matteorossini]

“Kedi”: a short review

I’ve mentioned the movie “Kedi” several times on this site; it’s an 80-minute documentary about the cats of Istanbul (“kedi” means “cat” in Turkish, and is said to be the origin of the word “kitty”), and was conceived and directed by Ceyda Torun, a woman who grew up in Istanbul and now lives in the U.S. The movie’s website is here, and here’s the official trailer:

The reviews have been almost unanimously favorable; it has a 98% favorable critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes—something almost unheard of for a documentary, especially one about cats.  The reason isn’t the cats; it’s the way the cats, the city, and the people are seamlessly and lovingly amalgamated in the film.

I’ve visited Istanbul three times, and love the city and its people. (What a shame Erdoğan is turning it into an Islamic enclave, but I have hope that Istanbul will remain vibrant and largely secular.) And when you walk around the city, one of the first things you notice, at least if you’re an ailurophile, is that it’s full of street cats—and they’re in good condition. Somebody’s taking care of them! Here are a few photos I took on one visit:

In a mosque. Mosques often harbor many cats because of the legend that Muhammad had a beloved cat, Muezza. I always carry a box of cat food in my backpack when in Istanbul.

  An out of focus Turkish Van cat; these often have odd colored eyes

How could I not buy a rug from this guy? (I did)

Okay, I overdid it, but you get the idea. “Kedi” is a documentary about the beauty of Istanbul, the diverse lives of its inhabitants (from artists to fishmongers to boatmen to waiters), and how they interact with the street cats. All of them care for the cats and see them as individuals who not only have distinct personalities, but also uniquely embellish their city. The cats, in fact, are treated as fellow citizens of Istanbul. It’s not a smarmy or overly saccharine film, nor does it have much sadness (there’s one bit with an injured kitten); rather, it’s an uncompromising look at the symbiosis between human and cat in a beautiful part of the world.

The inhabitants understand the cats; they know they’re independent, don’t always like affection, but need the humans to help them in a hard and dangerous city. Somehow Torun developed a way of filming from a cat’s sidewalk-level vantage, so you trot along beside the cats as they do their rounds. But there are also aerial views, showing what a lovely and cluttered place Istanbul is, straddling the straits separating Asia from Europe. The humans are eloquent and kind, typical of the people I’ve run into in the city; interviews with cat caretakers are a big part of the film. And overlying the whole documentary is a wonderful sound track that incorporates both pop and classical Turkish music.

Here’s one of my favorites of the seven “stars”: Duman, the polite cat who frequents a deli and gets fancy cheese and meat:

I urge you to see this movie, even if you’re not a huge cat fan. It’s a unique documentary that was filmed with love. That last time I recommended a new film this highly was “Spotlight”, and that one later won the Oscar for best picture. I think “Kedi” has a shot at an Oscar for best documentary—if it qualifies. I can guarantee, though, that you’ll leave the theater happy and with a greater love for both cats and your fellow humans.

Here’s the director; read IndieWire to see how she made Istanbul’s cats into stars.

Ceyda Torun

And the film’s poster:

    from Why Evolution Is True http://ift.tt/2sYj0GF via IFTTT