Istanbul Guide

206

Filiz Alpgezmen’s Yabancı ( Stranger ; 2013) tells the story of Özgür, who was raised in Paris but returns to her parents’ home town of İstanbul to bury her father, in the process discovering much about her family and herself. Turkey’s most acclaimed director, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, was awarded the 2014 Palme d’Or at Cannes for his film Winter Sleep, which is set in Cappadocia. At the awards ceremony, he dedicated his prize to ‘all the young people of Turkey, including those who lost their lives over the past year’, a clear statement of support for the anti-government protests at Gezi Park (p194 ) in 2013. Ceylan has directed three films set in İstanbul: Distant (2002), Climates (2006) and Three Monkeys (2008). The final scenes in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s award-winning 2015 film Mustang are set in İstanbul. Through Foreign Eyes Many of the foreign-made films with scenes featuring İstanbul have been thrillers. These include James Negulesco’s The Mask of Dimitrios (1944); Norman Foster’s 1943 film Journey into Fear; Tomas Alfred son’s 2011 film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, based on John Le Carré’s 1974 novel; Olivier Megaton’s Taken 2 (2012); and three James Bond films: From Russia with Love (1974), The World Is Not Enough (1999) and Skyfall (2012). Other films to look out for are Jacques Vierne’s 1961 film Tintin and the Golden Fleece; Alain Robbe-Grillet’s 1963 film L’Immortelle; Alan Parker’s 1978 hit Midnight Express; and Jules Dassin’s 1964 crime spoof Topkapi, which was based on Eric Ambler’s novel In the Light of Day . Greek director Tassos Boulmetis set part of his popular 2003 art house film A Touch of Spice here. In 2014 Australian–New Zealand actor Russell Crowe released his directorial debut The Water Diviner , which tells the story of an Austral ian father who makes his way to İstanbul to ascertain the fate of his three sons, all missing in action after the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. Parts of Mira Nair’s 2012 The Reluctant Fundamentalist and Hossein Amini’s 2014 The Two Faces of January were also shot here.

Clamour over Galata Tower, Aya Sofya’s dome, the minarets of the Blue Mosque and the roof of Topkapı Palace while playing the popular PS3/ Xbox 360 video game Assassin’s Creed: Revela tions, which is set in Constantinople in 1511. İstanbul on Page & Screen Cinema