Çelikezer’s ‘Can’ to be shown in three international festivals

The drama, which recounts the story of a six-year-old boy named Can, first travels to Israel next week for two screenings as part of this month’s Jerusalem Film Festival, which is running July 5-14 in its 29th year. “Can” will be shown twice, on July 9 and 12, in the festival’s Friends and Neighbors section.

“Can” will later travel to Ireland to vie for awards in the Galway Film Fleadh, which runs July 10-15 in its 24th year. There, “Can” will be up against 23 other films in the festival’s World Cinema competition.

Immediately following its Irish outing, “Can” will travel to Japan as one of the 12 entrants in the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival’s international feature film competition. Set to mark its ninth year from July 14-22 in the city of Kawaguchi, the festival is specifically aimed for digitally filmed movies, and this year it received a record 571 feature film submissions.

Starring Selen Uçer, Serdar Orçin and Yusuf Berkan Demirbağ in its leading roles, “Can” is the first film from Turkey to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize earlier this year. The drama, which Çelikezer says is a “tribute to Yeşilçam movies,” dwells on such questions as parenting, love, deception, doubt and acceptance of faults. The film opened in Turkish cinemas on May 11.