Senar Sagdiç

Kosmos is a thief and a miracle-worker. He appears one morning in a tiny, snowbound border village where he is welcomed with open arms - on account of arriving just in time to resuscitate a small boy who would otherwise have drowned. Neptün, the boy's sister, and Yahya, his father, are all too willing to take the stranger under their wing. But Kosmos values his independence too much. He queers his pitch still further when he openly declares himself to be in search of love. (Berlinale)

Bekir is a tradesman who runs his own business in Istanbul. When he feels like he is stressed out in the big city and work, he decides to go to his homeland for a short vacation, planning to go hunting in order to relax. As soon as he arrives in the village, he goes hunting in the woods. But hunting season has not started yet, and the villagers are scared that off-season hunting might bring bad luck. To top it, when Bekir arrives lots of misfortunes begin to happen.

A coming storm after dog days dawns during a road trip to an island for a funeral. The deceased is buried in haste and a man makes a detour through Aegean Turkey. The funeral is eclipsed by a last wish. (locarnofestival.ch)

Three old acquaintances debate different interpretations of the Koran, Christian sects, their lives, and life after death in a tiny, cramped neighborhood barber shop.

This is a city brimming with the struggling and the unemployed; aren't their lives a bit like the infinite, tiny particles flying through the air? Zeynep is already trying hard to make ends meet when she gets fired from her job at a textile mill. The Particle follows her as she searches for a job. In the movie, the prison-like feeling of the opening sequence never recedes; we relentlessly feel the dead ends of the city, a dystopia.

Alim works as a tailor's apprentice to Yakup for the past 15 years. Obsessive and fearful of death, he is stuck in the routine of a mundane life. He opens the store in the mornings and either takes a nap or watches TV until his boss arrives. In the evenings, he goes home carpooling with Kemal from the coffeehouse.

A couple in their late 30's sets out to prepare a fake photo album of a pseudo pregnancy period in order to prove their biological tie to the baby they're planning to adopt. (semainedelacritique.com)