Distant

Synopsis

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir) is a successful photographer in Istanbul who has nearly forgotten his roots in a small village. They come back to haunt him in the form of his younger cousin, Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak), a large, clumsy guy without pretense. Yusuf has come to look for work on a ship, and his presence in the apartment grates on Mahnrufs nerves. He has his own problems: in middle age, he is becoming more and more aware of the gap between his youthful ideals and the reality of his fairly isolated existence. His occasional trysts with women, who surreptitiously enter and leave, are his only remaining anchors to human intimacy. Wisely, Ceylan occasionally uses humor to leaven this psychological study. The last scene is so quietly overwhelming that no one can be unmoved. DISTANT took the Grand Prix and Best Actor Prize in Cannes this year.

Biography

Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1959. After graduating from the Electrical Engineering Department of Bosphorus University, he studied Filmmqaking for two years at Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul.

Filmography:
1995 - KOZA (Cocoon), short
1997 - KASABA (The Small Town)
2000 - MAYIS SIKINTISI (Clouds of May)
2002 - UZAK (Distant)