PANDORA'NIN KUTUSU / PANDORA’S BOX
2008, 112 minutes, 35mm, color;
Turkish with English subtitles
Directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Written by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Sema Kaygusuz
Produced by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Muhammet Çakıral, Serkan Çakarer, Behrooz Hashemian, Natacha Devillers, Michael Weber
Featuring Tsilla Chelton, Derya Alabora, Onur Ünsal, Övül Avkıran, Osman Sonant, Tayfun Bademsoy Devillers, Catherine Burniaux, Michael Weber
Yeşim Ustaoğlu describes Pandora’s Box as a story of alienation and isolation. An old woman, Nusret, played by veteran French actress Tsilla Chelton disappears within a small Black Sea town. As her estranged children - living and settled in Istanbul - set out to find her, long kept animosities, fears and false relationships are unleashed like the evils within Pandora’s Box. It comes to light that Nusret is suffering from Alzheimer’s and when none of her children are able to relate to her, it falls to Murat, her teenage grandson to bring her to peace and a sense of deliverance. The inner journey of its main characters illustrates the saga of a country in transition in which, sometimes, people are forced to live lives that no longer fulfill them.
FESTIVALS -AWARDS
2008 Tribeca Film Festival (USA)
2008 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival: Best Supporting Actress, Övül Avkıran (Turkey)
2008 San Sebastian International Film Festival: Best Actress “Silver Shell” Tsilla Chelton and Best Film “Golden Shell” (Spain)
2008 Thessalonica International Film Festival (Greece)
2008 Toronto International Film Festival (Canada)
2008 Amiens International Film Festival (France)
2008 Festival on Wheels, Kars (Turkey)
2008 NHK Asian Film Festival
YEŞIM USTAOĞLU
Yeşim Ustaoğlu made several award-winning shorts in Turkey before making her feature debut with 1994’s Iz (The Track). She received international recognition for her 1999 film Günese Yolculuk (Journey to the Sun), which received the Blue Angel Award for best European film and the Peace Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. The moving story of a courageous friendship undaunted by political cruelty swept the Istanbul International Film Festival by winning best film, best director, the FIPRESCI prize, and the Audience Award. Her follow-up Bulutları Beklerken (Waiting for the Clouds) was awarded the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award and the DAAD scholarship.
FILMOGRAPHY
2008 Pandora’nın Kutusu / Pandora’s Box
2004 Sırtlarındaki Hayat (belgesel)/ Life on their Shoulders (documentary)
2004 Bulutları Beklerken / Waiting for the Clouds
1999 Günese Yolculuk / Journey to the Sun
1994 Iz / The Trace
1992 Otel (kısa) / Hotel (short)
1990 Düet (kısa) / Duet (short)
1987 Magnafantanga (short)
1984 Bir AnıYakalamak (kısa) / To Catch a Moment (short)