Among films running in the festival’s national feature competition are such critical favorites as Semih Kaplanoğlu’s Berlinale-winning “Bal” (Honey) and Onur Ünlü’s “Beş Şehir” (Five Cities), which premiered at last year’s Altın Portakal film festival in Antalya, as well as Levent Semerci’s box office champ debut feature “Nefes: Vatan Sağolsun” (The Breath).Organized annually by the Greater Adana Municipality, the 2010 festival will run from Sept. 20 to 26 in the southern province of Adana. Altın Koza, originally held early in summer, is marking its 17th year somewhat belatedly due to last minute rescheduling by the festival’s organizers, citing the notorious Israeli attack in late May on a Gaza-bound Turkish vessel in an international aid convoy which resulted in the deaths of nine activists.
Forty Turkish features filmed during the past 12 months were submitted to this year’s competition, the organizers said during a press conference on Monday. Also among the 10 features selected for the national competition are Zeki Demirkubuz’s period drama “Kıskanmak” (Envy), which also premiered last year at Altın Portakal; veteran filmmaker Nesli Çölgeçen’s “Denizden Gelen” (Brought by the Sea); and Hakan Algül’s comedy “Eyyvah Eyvah,” all of which had their theatrical runs during the last season. Greek filmmaker Theo Angelopoulos will be the guest of honor at this year’s festival.
