Yüce´s debut feature, which was awarded both best film and best director at the Antalya Golden Orange International Film Festival´s national competition last October, recounts the mental transformation of the son of a middle-class family in İstanbul following his encounter with a Kurdish girl.
“Çoğunluk” is in the running in almost all major categories -- including best picture, best director, best screenplay and best editing, as well as several acting categories -- of the total 13 in this year´s Yeşilçam Awards. The best editing category -- along with the best first film, for which “Çoğunluk” is also nominated -- was introduced this year in the awards, whose previous editions had 11 categories.
In the best picture category, “Çoğunluk” will see contention from Yavuz Turgul´s crime thriller “Av Mevsimi” (Hunting Season), Selim Demirdelen´s psychological drama “Kavşak” (The Crossing) and Reha Erdem´s semi-fantastic tale “Kosmos” as well as two comedies starring stand-up comedians, “Eyyvah Eyvah” with Ata Demirer in its title role and “Yahşi Batı” (The Beautiful West) with Cem Yılmaz. All but one of the titles running for best picture also received nods in the five-title best director race, with the exception of “Eyyvah Eyvah.”
In the meantime, Sinema Meslek Birlikleri Güç Birliği (Alliance of Cinema Labor Unions), a platform comprising eight Turkish labor unions in the field of cinema that was established in January 2010, announced on Wednesday that it was protesting this year´s awards, accusing the organizers of disregarding the platform´s suggestions to help the Yeşilçam Awards achieve a more professional structure. The alliance also said in a written statement on Wednesday that it would start organizing the Yeşilçam Awards in 2012.
The Yeşilçam Awards were launched in 2008 by the İstanbul-based Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) in a bid to support Turkey´s cinema industry. Turkish productions released throughout the past year are eligible to compete for the awards, which its organizers bill as the “Turkish equivalent of the Oscars.”
The Fourth annual Yeşilçam Awards will be given on March 28 in a ceremony at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Center.
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