gripping thriller against a backdrop of homophobia in an intolerant Türkiye

For his fourth feature film, Özcan Alper holds up a mirror to Turkish society. “Dark Night in Anatolia” or the autopsy of a society in need of a future. Powerful.

Any resemblance to existing or former facts and characters is not purely coincidental and may not be the result of pure coincidence. Özcan Alper is a director of reality. He starts from existing materials, things seen, read, observed in his country, Turkey. He was marked by a sordid news item : the disappearance of a student who went to work in a city “known for her nationalist inclinations”. The father received no help in his desperate search to find his son. For his fourth feature film, Özcan Alper holds up a mirror to society Turkish.

Dark night in Anatolia is like a modern-day western. Ishak, played by a dark and tormented Berkay Ateş, earns his living playing the lute in a nightclub. Single, solitary, he is content with a simple life. He lives alone, he also lives in the past that he cannot forget. One day, he returned to his native village, which he had to suddenly abandon to go to his mother’s bedside. The past rarely dies, it returns to the present at the slightest memory. And the villagers don’t want this memory, buried in the twists and turns of guilt. So, they are hostile towards Ishak. They invite him to return to his city. The musician must face them, but also face his own past which does not pass not.

The law of silence

In memory, the villagers chose oblivion. So what happened ? The arrival of a young forest guard upsets the fragile balances and tacit interests. The village is in turmoil. Despite himself, he will become an obsession and a target. His close friendship with Ishak causes turmoil. The director suggests and shows nothing. He questions otherness. His camera searches the landscapes, the faults and the chasms in the region, as one probes the souls. One thing is certain : Özcan Alper knows how to film. His plans are a succession of paintings, beautiful in the making. oppressive.

Where is Turkey going? ? “The film’s story takes place among ordinary people, in a small mountain town. I have seen many photographs depicting such an environment under many authoritarian regimes around the world. What mainly motivates me and pushes me to make this film is the political process that forms the background of the story. With this film, I try to show how desires repressed by society, unexpressed sexuality, can create a climate of fear and violence. explains the director. Dark night in Anatolia, autopsy of a closed company. Dark night in Anatolia, powerful film and effective.

The sheet

Title : Dark night in Anatolia

Director: Özcan Alper

LANGUAGES : Turkish VOST French

Duration : 1h54

Distribution : Berkay Ateş, Taner Birsel and Sibel Kekilli

Release date : February 14, 2024

Synopsis: Ishak lives alone in the province of Anatolia and earns his living playing the lute in a nightclub. One day, he has to go to his mother’s bedside, in his native village which he had to leave suddenly seven years ago. Back in his village, Ishak is then confronted with the hostility of everyone as well as the torments of his own pass.