Murat Fıratoğlu‘s masterstroke directorial debut (winner of the Special Jury Prize a Venice last year in the Orizzonti aka Horizons section last year) is Turkey’s official for for the Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards. Reminding us of Kiarostami cinema, One of Those Days When Hemme Dies becomes the very first submission from all the countries opening to make the first cut. We expect the floodgates to open for other film nations in the next couple of weeks moving up into the upcoming Toronto Intl. Film Festival playdates. Fıratoğlu took the lead in his on film. We were at the film’s world premiere – watch below:
Eyüp had gone to İzmir in search of work, hoping to earn a living, but unable to establish himself there, he returned to his sick mother’s home in Siverek with his wife and three children. He finds temporary work drying tomatoes, yet his wages go unpaid. Frustrated, he retrieves a gun hidden in his sister’s house, tucked away among quilts, and sets out in anger, determined to kill Hemme. But as he roams the town, villagers repeatedly distract him with small errands and chores, delaying his revenge. By nightfall, his fury has dissipated—and in an unexpected turn, he ends up dancing alongside Hemme at a wedding.
