Italy’s Best International Feature Oscar-nominated Io Capitano starts its U.S. run today in ten market on 21 screens, a bit wider than usual for Cohen Media Group but with Academy final voting just started, reviews are gold for the odyssey that director Matteo Garrone calls “a movie about human rights. About the rights of everybody to move, to look for a better life.”
That’s the quest of teenage cousins Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall), who live in a close-knit village in Senegal. They’re not starving, not in danger. They are poor, restless, want a shot at something better in Europe and are oblivious to the horrors along the way.
Sarr won Best Emerging Actor at the Venice premiere of the film, which marks the onscreen debut for both stars and the first acting role for Sarr, who, Deadline’s review says, “carries the whole movie...
That’s the quest of teenage cousins Seydou (Seydou Sarr) and Moussa (Moustapha Fall), who live in a close-knit village in Senegal. They’re not starving, not in danger. They are poor, restless, want a shot at something better in Europe and are oblivious to the horrors along the way.
Sarr won Best Emerging Actor at the Venice premiere of the film, which marks the onscreen debut for both stars and the first acting role for Sarr, who, Deadline’s review says, “carries the whole movie...
- 2/23/2024
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
"A searing, mesmerizing, and unforgettably wintry mood piece." Janus Films + Sideshow have revealed the official US trailer for About Dry Grasses, the latest film from award-winning Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, where I wrote a rave review and it ended up winning the Best Actress award. A young teacher is sent to work in a snowy village in East Anatolia. After a long time waiting he loses all hope of escaping from this gloomy life. However, his colleague Nuray helps him to regain perspective. The latest deeply philosophical drama from Ceylan is a work of elegant, novelistic filmmaking, rigorously unpacking questions of belief versus action, the tangible versus the enigmatic, and who we wish to be versus how we live... A remarkable dinner table conversation between Samet and Nuray "ranks with Ceylan's greatest sequences, and Dizdar, who won the Best Actress prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Turkey’s Best International Feature Oscar entry “About Dry Grasses” defrosts the blurred lines between teacher and student, colleague and mentor, in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s epically ambitioned, Cannes award-winning drama.
IndieWire debuts the trailer for the film that follows an abusive teacher (Deniz Celiloğlu) as he grapples with living in icy Anatolia, including favoring one pupil (Ece Bağcı), and seeking solace with a fellow teacher.
Samet (Celiloğlu) is a young art teacher now in his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, as is the case of many a Ceylan character facing a void, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, also a teacher, help him overcome his angst? Musab Ekici also stars as Samet’s roommate.
The film is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...
IndieWire debuts the trailer for the film that follows an abusive teacher (Deniz Celiloğlu) as he grapples with living in icy Anatolia, including favoring one pupil (Ece Bağcı), and seeking solace with a fellow teacher.
Samet (Celiloğlu) is a young art teacher now in his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, as is the case of many a Ceylan character facing a void, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. Will his encounter with Nuray, also a teacher, help him overcome his angst? Musab Ekici also stars as Samet’s roommate.
The film is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan,...
- 11/28/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
North American premiere at TIFF on September 13.
Turkey has selected Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses as its submission for the Academy Awards.
‘About Dry Grasses’: Cannes Review
About Dry Grasses premiered in Cannes where Merve Dizdar won the best actress award and will receive its North American premiere at TIFF on September 13
and screen in the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival in October.
Deniz Celiloglu, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici and Eve Bagci star in the story about Samet, a young art teacher finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia.
Turkey has selected Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses as its submission for the Academy Awards.
‘About Dry Grasses’: Cannes Review
About Dry Grasses premiered in Cannes where Merve Dizdar won the best actress award and will receive its North American premiere at TIFF on September 13
and screen in the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival in October.
Deniz Celiloglu, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici and Eve Bagci star in the story about Samet, a young art teacher finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia.
- 9/8/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
In his otherwise astute Cahiers du Cinéma review of About Dry Grasses, Josué Morel describes the main character of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest epic work, Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), as a frustrated, badly loved, and, at times, angry man, who’s “perhaps even a pedophile.” While it can be seductive, sometimes convenient, to reduce the ambivalence of a characterization to something so clear, the manner in which Morel pins Samet down constitutes a fundamental misunderstanding of Ceylan’s commitment to capturing, among other things, the dimensions of child-adult and pupil-teacher relations in all their complexity.
About Dry Grasses involves a complaint about transgressive behavior by Samet toward one of his female students, 14-year-old Sevim (Ece Bagci), with whom he’s nurtured a caring bond within an institution where any expression of affection would be fundamentally at odds with its pedagogy and ethos. The plot of Ceylan’s film isn’t...
About Dry Grasses involves a complaint about transgressive behavior by Samet toward one of his female students, 14-year-old Sevim (Ece Bagci), with whom he’s nurtured a caring bond within an institution where any expression of affection would be fundamentally at odds with its pedagogy and ethos. The plot of Ceylan’s film isn’t...
- 9/7/2023
- by Diego Semerene
- Slant Magazine
The U.S. rights for Cannes Film Festival award winner “About Dry Grasses” have been acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films.
“About Dry Grasses” follows Samet, a young art teacher who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. But an encounter with another teacher named Nuray offers a chance to help him overcome his angst.
The film, which screened in Competition to rave reviews and won the Best Actress honor for Merve Dizdar’s performance, has a screenplay written by Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. In addition to Dizdar, the film stars Deniz Celiloglu, Musab Ekici and Eve Bagci. NBC Film, Memento Production and Komplizen Film Production serve as producers.
Sideshow and Janus Films...
“About Dry Grasses” follows Samet, a young art teacher who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. But an encounter with another teacher named Nuray offers a chance to help him overcome his angst.
The film, which screened in Competition to rave reviews and won the Best Actress honor for Merve Dizdar’s performance, has a screenplay written by Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. In addition to Dizdar, the film stars Deniz Celiloglu, Musab Ekici and Eve Bagci. NBC Film, Memento Production and Komplizen Film Production serve as producers.
Sideshow and Janus Films...
- 5/31/2023
- by Lucas Manfredi
- The Wrap
Sideshow and Janus Films have picked up U.S. rights to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes Film Festival competition entry About Dry Grasses, securing the Turkish drama from sales group Playtime.
The film stars Deniz Celiloglu as a young art teacher, sent to a remote village in Anatolia for his final year of compulsory national service, who is overcome with angst and a sense of hopelessness about the future. An encounter with Nuray, another teacher, played by Merve Dizdar, offers the possibility of an escape. Dizdar won best actress honor in Cannes this year for her performance.
Sideshow and Janus Films plan to tour About Dry Grasses through the fall film festivals before releasing the movie in theaters stateside. The distributors took a similar approach with their joint 2021 Cannes acquisition, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, another slow-burning drama, eventually landing four Oscar nominations, and one win — for best international feature.
The film stars Deniz Celiloglu as a young art teacher, sent to a remote village in Anatolia for his final year of compulsory national service, who is overcome with angst and a sense of hopelessness about the future. An encounter with Nuray, another teacher, played by Merve Dizdar, offers the possibility of an escape. Dizdar won best actress honor in Cannes this year for her performance.
Sideshow and Janus Films plan to tour About Dry Grasses through the fall film festivals before releasing the movie in theaters stateside. The distributors took a similar approach with their joint 2021 Cannes acquisition, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, another slow-burning drama, eventually landing four Oscar nominations, and one win — for best international feature.
- 5/31/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Updated with latest: The Cannes Film Festival kicked off this year with opening-night movie Jeanne du Barry, and concluded Saturday evening with Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall scooping the Palme d’Or. Deadline was on the ground to watch all the key films. Here is a compilation of our reviews from the fest, which last year saw Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness win the coveted top prize on its way to an Oscar Best Picture nomination.
Check out the reviews below, click on the titles to read them in full, and keep checking back as we add more.
About Dry Grasses ‘About Dry Grasses’
Section: Competition
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Cast: Deniz Celiloglu, Ece Bagci, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici
Deadline’s takeaway: For Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s many fans, this is another opportunity to slip into his world, spot his sly political references and subside for a...
Check out the reviews below, click on the titles to read them in full, and keep checking back as we add more.
About Dry Grasses ‘About Dry Grasses’
Section: Competition
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Cast: Deniz Celiloglu, Ece Bagci, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici
Deadline’s takeaway: For Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s many fans, this is another opportunity to slip into his world, spot his sly political references and subside for a...
- 5/27/2023
- by Pete Hammond, Damon Wise, Matthew Carey, Stephanie Bunbury and Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
At nearly 200 minutes in length, “About Dry Grasses” (or “Kuru Otlar Üstüne”) is par for the course for Turkish virtuoso Nuri Bilge Ceylan. He returns, once again, to the icy frost of his Anatolia-set Palme d’Or winner “Winter Sleep,” for a story that beats with similar frustrations towards power in the grand social scheme. However, he weaves this theme into his background tapestry, favoring instead a talkative and often discomforting tale of a small-town art teacher, his 12-year-old female student, and an accusation of impropriety that might be false on its surface, but is rooted in truths the camera sees.
Where “Winter Sleep” adapted Russian greats like Chekhov and Dostoyevsky — it draws from both “The Wife” and “The Brothers Karamazov”— “About Dry Grasses” plays like a spiritual descendant of Nabokov’s “Lolita,” at least in its use of point-of-view. Ceylan’s novelistic approach to cinema could perhaps find no...
Where “Winter Sleep” adapted Russian greats like Chekhov and Dostoyevsky — it draws from both “The Wife” and “The Brothers Karamazov”— “About Dry Grasses” plays like a spiritual descendant of Nabokov’s “Lolita,” at least in its use of point-of-view. Ceylan’s novelistic approach to cinema could perhaps find no...
- 5/20/2023
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Indiewire
Nuri Bilge Ceylan loves snow. The depths of winter, people in thick coats, frozen taps, the sense that these long, bitterly cold seasons in mountain regions will never end. This is all working material for the Turkish master whose Winter Sleep won the Palme d’Or in 2014. “What am I doing here?” is the regular moan from Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), the art teacher in the village school in About Dry Grasses.
Meaning: what is a man of the world doing teaching potato farmers’ children how to draw a horse? Why is he in this desolate country with two seasons that turn over so quickly that once the snow melts, the buried yellow grass almost immediately is turned brown by the fierce summer sun? Even the grass has no chance in life: It’s unbearable. It’s like him, he muses in a rare voice-over, condemned by circumstance to insignificance.
Ceylan...
Meaning: what is a man of the world doing teaching potato farmers’ children how to draw a horse? Why is he in this desolate country with two seasons that turn over so quickly that once the snow melts, the buried yellow grass almost immediately is turned brown by the fierce summer sun? Even the grass has no chance in life: It’s unbearable. It’s like him, he muses in a rare voice-over, condemned by circumstance to insignificance.
Ceylan...
- 5/20/2023
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
To this Turkish critic, Nuri Bilge Ceylan is our Mike Leigh and Anton Chekhov in one, with multilayered characters of social and political complexities engaging through dialogue lines that feel both off-the-cuff and studiously planned in their lavish rhythms. Ceylan is also a master of luxuriously slow cinema with a recognizable visual style, haunting, minimalistic and sneakily riveting across textured, widescreen pastoral scenes and dimly-lit interiors that evolve with peerless patience.
Written by Ceylan, Akin Aksu and Ebru Ceylan, his latest stunner “About Dry Grasses”—Ceylan’s best feature since “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”—flutters with all these pictorial qualities and emotional dispositions. It’s a searing, mesmerizing and unforgettably wintry mood piece and character study that is in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, nearly a decade after his “Winter Sleep” won the Palme d’Or.
It’s also a deeply Turkish film that gently...
Written by Ceylan, Akin Aksu and Ebru Ceylan, his latest stunner “About Dry Grasses”—Ceylan’s best feature since “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”—flutters with all these pictorial qualities and emotional dispositions. It’s a searing, mesmerizing and unforgettably wintry mood piece and character study that is in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, nearly a decade after his “Winter Sleep” won the Palme d’Or.
It’s also a deeply Turkish film that gently...
- 5/19/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan continues to explore his homeland’s teeming dichotomies — city/rural, secularism/faith, individualism/tradition and so forth — in About Dry Grasses, his latest Cannes competition entrant, which revolves around schoolteachers in a remote rural community. Running true to recent form (see 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep and 2018’s Cannes-entrant The Wild Pear Tree), despite the setting in contemporary Anatolia, this latest work nevertheless plays like an adaptation of some lost, weighty 19th-century Russian novel of ideas beloved by mid-20th existentialists and largely forgotten until Ceylan repurposed it.
Of course, that’s not the actual case, and the script was written by Ceylan himself, his wife and frequent collaborator Erbu Ceylan and Akin Aksu. All the same, the screenplay is distinctly opaque, despite the huge chunks of philosophical dialogue and debate it delivers. The film is edited in a seemingly deliberately raggedy style, with...
Of course, that’s not the actual case, and the script was written by Ceylan himself, his wife and frequent collaborator Erbu Ceylan and Akin Aksu. All the same, the screenplay is distinctly opaque, despite the huge chunks of philosophical dialogue and debate it delivers. The film is edited in a seemingly deliberately raggedy style, with...
- 5/19/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The red carpets are being rolled out, the rosé is being chilled, and the biggest names in international cinema are getting ready to converge on France for this year’s Cannes Film Festival. After a stellar return to form with last year’s event, which followed a delayed and truncated 2021 festival and a totally cancelled 2020 edition, the circuit’s starriest annual event seems ready to deliver another enviable selection of some of the year’s best films.
This year’s festival includes new films from some of cinema’s biggest names, including Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach, and even Jean-Luc Godard. There are big studio efforts on offer and new features from some of our favorite auteurs.
There’s also already plenty of controversy afoot, from the programming of Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp-starring “Jeanne du Barry” as the fest’s opener to the inclusion of The Weeknd...
This year’s festival includes new films from some of cinema’s biggest names, including Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, Todd Haynes, Ken Loach, and even Jean-Luc Godard. There are big studio efforts on offer and new features from some of our favorite auteurs.
There’s also already plenty of controversy afoot, from the programming of Maïwenn’s Johnny Depp-starring “Jeanne du Barry” as the fest’s opener to the inclusion of The Weeknd...
- 5/11/2023
- by Kate Erbland, David Ehrlich and Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Paris-based Playtime has unveiled a strong Cannes film market sales slate, which includes competition titles “About Dry Grasses” and “Homecoming.”
“About Dry Grasses” is by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep.” The film follows Samet, a young art teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in, and hopes that his encounter with fellow teacher Nuray will help him overcome his angst. Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar and Musab Ekici are among the cast.
“Homecoming,” by French director Catherine Corsini who won the 2021 Queer Palm for “The Divide,” follows Khédidja, who minds a wealthy Parisian family’s children for a summer in Corsica. She brings along her own two...
“About Dry Grasses” is by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep.” The film follows Samet, a young art teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in, and hopes that his encounter with fellow teacher Nuray will help him overcome his angst. Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar and Musab Ekici are among the cast.
“Homecoming,” by French director Catherine Corsini who won the 2021 Queer Palm for “The Divide,” follows Khédidja, who minds a wealthy Parisian family’s children for a summer in Corsica. She brings along her own two...
- 5/2/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Update: Image removed at the request of the producers.
While it’s been five long years since the latest film from Nuri Bilge Ceylan, we did get a recent re-release of his stellar breakout feature Uzak aka Distant, but 2023 looks to finally be the year of a new film from the Turkish director. Les herbes sèches aka About Dry Grasses is among our most-anticipated of the year and now ahead of a very likely Cannes debut, the first image and full synopsis have arrived.
Above, one can see the first still of the film starring Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. Per the new 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...
While it’s been five long years since the latest film from Nuri Bilge Ceylan, we did get a recent re-release of his stellar breakout feature Uzak aka Distant, but 2023 looks to finally be the year of a new film from the Turkish director. Les herbes sèches aka About Dry Grasses is among our most-anticipated of the year and now ahead of a very likely Cannes debut, the first image and full synopsis have arrived.
Above, one can see the first still of the film starring Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. Per the new 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...
- 2/2/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Turkish master Nuri Bilge Ceylan has been working at a relatively steady clip for the last few decades, releasing vast yet intimate dramas every three to four years. With it being a few years since his last feature, The Wild Pear Tree, we now have an update on his next film.
Titled Les herbes sèches (which references dry herbs), the film is being backed by Arte France Cinéma, Cineuropa reports. Set to begin shooting in Turkey in the summer of 2021, the drama will be led by Deniz Celiloglu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. Check out the synopsis below.
The film center on Samet, a young and single school teacher finishing his mandatory service in an isolated village in Anatolia, while hoping to be assigned in Istanbul. When he does not get the transfer he was hoping for, he loses all hope of ever escaping the grim life he seems bogged down in.
Titled Les herbes sèches (which references dry herbs), the film is being backed by Arte France Cinéma, Cineuropa reports. Set to begin shooting in Turkey in the summer of 2021, the drama will be led by Deniz Celiloglu, Merve Dizdar, and Musab Ekici. Check out the synopsis below.
The film center on Samet, a young and single school teacher finishing his mandatory service in an isolated village in Anatolia, while hoping to be assigned in Istanbul. When he does not get the transfer he was hoping for, he loses all hope of ever escaping the grim life he seems bogged down in.
- 9/26/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Upcoming films from Mia Hansen-Løve, Quentin Dupieux and directing duo Mina Mileva - Vesela Kazakova will also be co-produced by the cinema branch of the Franco-German channel. The 4th selection committee for 2020 of Arte France Cinéma (headed by Olivier Père) has chosen to engage in the co-production and pre-buying of four projects. Standing out among them is Les herbes sèches from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, winner of Cannes’ Palme d'Or in 2014 with Winter Sleep and awarded several times on the Croisette. The film, set to be shot next year in Turkey and starring Deniz Celiloglu, Merve Dizdar and Musab Ekici, will centre on Samet, a young and single school teacher finishing his mandatory service in an isolated village in Anatolia, while...
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