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Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite
| image = DontLetThemShoottheKite.jpg
| caption = Theatrical film poster
| director = Tun Baaran
| producer =
| writer =
| starring =
| cinematography =
| music = zkan Turgay
| editing =
| studio = Magnum Film
| distributor =
| released =
| runtime = 100 minutes
| country = Turkey
| language = Turkish
| budget =
| gross =
}}
'Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite' is a 1989 Turkish drama film, co-written, co-produced and directed by Tun Baaran based on a 1986 novella by , featuring Nur Srer as a female political prisoner who befriends the child of a fellow inmate. The film was screened in competition at the 26th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where it won Golden Oranges for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography, the 10th Mediterranean International Film Festival, where it won 2nd Best Film, and the 8th Istanbul International Film Festival, where it won Best Turkish Film. The film was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
The film is set in 1984 Ankara, during the aftermath of the 1980 Turkish coup. It is currently available to legally stream with English subtitles through the German media website .
Plot
When a woman is sent to prison for drug smuggling, Bar, her young son, is sent with her, as is the custom in Turkey. Inside this all-womens penitentiary, Bar searches for companionship and guidanceand finds them both in the form of Inci (Nur Srer), a political prisoner with whom he forms a very special bond. A beautifully observed, tender story of the growing affection between a woman and a child who is not her own, Tun Baarans film, with a screenplay by based on her novel, builds an effective counterpoint between the prison world, with its discipline, intrigues and threat of violence, and the private space Inci and Bar manage to create for themselves. Voted Best Turkish Film of the Year at the 1989 Istanbul Film Festival.
Venue: Walter Reade Theater, Howard Gilman Theater
Cast
*Nur Srer as nci
* as Bar
*Fsun Demirel as Fatma
* as Zeynep
*Gzin zipek as Sultanteyze
* as Selma
* as Filiz
*Meral etinkaya as Safinaz
* as Smbl
Production
The film is based on a 1986 novella by Feride iekolu, who was inspired by the four years she spent as a political prisoner following the 1980 Turkish coup. Director Tun Baaran's wife, Jale, served as the film's art director. The film was produced on a very limited budget, as was common in Turkey at the time. Baaran remarked, "If I were given $1 million to make a picture, I would use the money to make four films."
Although the film is set in Ankara, many of the prison scenes were filmed in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Jail. Ankara's Ulucanlar Prison has also been identified as one of the filming locations.
Critical reception
In 'The Routledge Dictionary of Turkish Cinema', Gnl Dnmez-Colin calls 'Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite' "one of the classics of Turkish cinema", and in 'World Film Locations: Istanbul', zlem Kksal writes that "[Baris] leaning against the imposing prison wall with hands in his pockets is definitely an iconic image in Turkish cinema."
Kevin Thomas of the 'Los Angeles Times' named 'Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite' as a highlight of the 1990 L.A. Film Festival.
See also
* List of submissions to the 62nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film
* List of Turkish submissions for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
References
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