UPDATE: Photo taken down as per distributor Play Time’s request.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses” (new title) was accepted, many months ago, by Thierry Fremaux for next May’s edition on the Croisette. Now we have our first look at the upcoming film (above).
No word yet on whether it’ll be in competition, but one presumes Cannes always has an open competition slot available for Ceylan. He’ll probably be gunning for his second Palme d’Or in May.
The Turkish filmmaker, a world-class auteur, who has become a staple of the Festival with his 2014 Palme winner “Winter Sleep,” and other prized greats such as the masterful “Once Upon A Time in Anatolia” and “Distant,” will be returning with this mysterious new film.
The film stars Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. We now have an official synopsis:
“The film follows Samet, a young teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia, while hoping to be assigned to Istanbul. When he and his colleague Kenan are accused of harassment by two female students, he loses all hope of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. But his meeting with Nuray, herself a teacher, may help him overcome his angst.“
This sounds like Ceylan tackling #MeToo. I’m intrigued. Of course, when it comes to the Turkish auteur, nothing is obvious and almost everything is left up for debate. His films are also lengthy in runtime, so I would expect another statement that runs closer to 3 hours.