Turkey’s Oscar entry for 2017 marks the emergence of an astonishing talent in director Mustafa Kara. Remarkably, cinematographers Cevahir Sahin and Kürsat Üresin are hardly any more experienced. This team spent an entire year on a remote hillside of the barely hospitable Black Sea region, capturing the tale of a family who eke out an existence in a sloping stone hut while father Mehmet searches for gold or tries to stave off creditors with a big win at the bullfight. Director Kara leavens the stereotypical Turkish art-house feel for ponderous pacing (much as we love that) with just a touch of the surreal. Nonactor Haydar Sisman, who will be in attendance for the screening, keeps us riveted beyond the film’s epic compositions as the sad dreamer, Mehmet.

Georgia Straight, November 2016