Turkish filmmaker praises ‘Castle of Dreams’

Palme d’Or winner, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, has admired ‘Castle of Dreams,’ by Reza Mirkarimi.

The Turkish director added that the film is so perfect that although it happens in a limited time and place, the whole of life is there.

The film won the Golden Goblet prize for best film, the best director prize for Mirkarimi, and a shared best actor award for Hamed Behdad at the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival whose jury was headed by Ceylan.

‘Castle of Dreams’ tells the story of a father who comes back to his children after long years of absence. He has to take his son and daughter away from their mother who is terminally ill at the hospital. Though reluctant, he still tries every means to fulfill the children's fantasy of building a dream castle that was drawn by their mother.

Speaking about the film’s director, he said that he is dominant over each and every part of the film including sound, dialogue, psychology, actors, mimics and gestures.

“Mirkarimi gives life to everything and makes audiences face the extraordinary aspects of human beings,” he said.

Ceylan has always been interested in Iranian cinema and pointed to the late director Abbas Kiarostami as one of his major sources of inspiration.

Ceylan’s ‘Clouds in May’ received the best cinematography award at Fajr Film Festival.

He won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his film, ‘Distant,’ and the Palme d’Or for ‘Winter Sleep’.

He is the winner of three Asia Pacific Screen Awards for best director for ‘Three Monkeys,’ ‘Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,’ and ‘Winter Sleep’.

MMF/MMF