Sen Aydınlatırsın Geceyi

This independent Turkish film is set in an unnamed small town in Anatolia whose inhabitants possess various supernatural powers but still have to deal with ordinary problems. Cemal helps out in his father’s barbershop and in his free time acts as a football referee. But when he wins over the heart of a local girl, Yasemin, whom he then marries, things begin to get complicated. While he is willing to have an affair with street-side bookseller Defne, he also suspects his wife of being unfaithful. This highly original film captivates the viewer through its playful treatment of its formal aspects and various meanings. The conscious stylization uses absurdity and metaphor as fully-fledged tools of expression that won’t go unnoticed by the audience. This wildly imaginative love story recalls the methods of magic realism and, in addition to its obvious partiality for ostentatious cinematic effects, the film becomes an unpredictable odyssey with lots of surprising twists. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)