Pandora’nın Kutusu
Pandora's Box
Pandora’s Box is a story of alienation and isolation, a story of individuals whose lives have been shaped by a sterile, middle-class morality. A story that many people touched by the inevitable combination of capitalism and modernity can identify with. It is a kind of human landscape, both universal and singular at the same time … Two sisters and a brother live in the center of today’s Istanbul. They are in their thirties and forties, and lead very different lives, self-centered in their middle-class preoccupations. One day, a phone call brings them together on a voyage through Turkey’s suburbs and villages to the small town in the Black Sea mountains where they were born. Their aged mother, Nusret, has disappeared. As the siblings start reminiscing about her, the tensions among them quickly become apparent. Attesting to the fact that Alzheimer’s disease is a universal family drama, Pandora’s Box puts an aging grandmother's illness into the context of modern Turkey. Director Yeşim Ustaoğlu, known for her courageous films with political undertones […] shows great sensitivity and an ability to touch the heartstrings in this less controversial subject. (Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter) Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s Pandora’s Box won the San Sebastián Golden Shell for Best Picture as well as the Silver Shell for Best Female Lead in 2008.
Director's Biography
YEŞIM USTAOĞLU, born in 1960, is an award-winning director from Çaykara, Turkey. She directed several shorts before making her feature film debut with The Trace in 1994. She received international recognition for her 1999 film Journey to the Sun, winning several international awards. // Films (selection): İz (The Trace, 1994), Güneşe Yolculuk (Journey to the Sun, 1999), Bulutlari Beklerken (Waiting for the Clouds, 2004), Pandora’nin Kutusu (Pandora’s Box, 2008; CE’09), Araf (Araf – Somewhere in Between, 2012; CE’13), Tereddüt (Clair Obscur, 2016)
Spotlight 2017
Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Turkey / France / Germany / Belgium 2008
color
112 minutes
OV with English subtitles
Screenplay Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Cinematography Jacques Besse
Editing Franck Nakache
Music Jean-Pierre Mas
With Tsilla Chelton, Derya Alabora, Onur Unsal, Övül Avkiran, Osman Sonant, Tayfun Bademsoy, Nazmi Kırık
Producer(s) Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Muhammet Çakiral, Serkan Çakarer, Behrooz Hashemian (Ustaoğlu Film, TR), Setareh Farsi (Silkroad Production, FR), Natacha Devillers (Les Petites Lumières, FR), Catherine Burniaux (Stromboli Pictures, BE), Michael Weber, Tobias Pausinger (The Match Factory, DE)
Production
Ustaoğlu Film Gazeteci Erol Dernek Sokak, Yeni Melek Han 17/8, Beyoğlu 34433 Istanbul, Turkey ustaoglu@ustaoglufilm.com www.yesimustaoglu.com
Weltpremiere / World Premiere
Toronto International Film Festival 2008
Österreichpremiere / Austrian Premiere
Österreichpremiere / Austrian Premiere
CROSSING EUROPE 2009