NEANDRIA

North America Premiere

SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 2024 | 1:00 pm

Preceded by best film award recipients at BTF's 18th Documentary & Short Film Competition

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
465 Huntington Avenue

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Written and Directed by Reha Erdem

Cast: Deniz İlhan, Ahmet Rıfat Şungar, Bülent Emin Yarar, İncinur Daşdemir, Nihal Yalçın,
Izzy, Nur Fettahoğlu, Serkan Keskin, Gizem Katmer, Ayşegül Kopartan

90 min. / 2023 / with English subtitles

FEAR NOT, houses here got walls of stone
FEAR NOT, you can write the rules from scratch
FEAR NOT, ideas can dethrone kings
FEAR NOT, look around and maybe you’ll fall in love

Suna is a teenager athlete who lives with her mother in a mountain village reminiscent of the world at large: here, things are run by older men who know it all, environmental destruction looms, and greed beats in most hearts. Suna’s uncle, the village headman, is on the lookout for ways to close his debt. His wife, whom he married by force, keeps eloping only to be found on the outskirts of the village each time. 12- year-old Filiz shoots Youtube videos, and feels ‘nothing happens in this village!’. But things happen. An imam arrives and he is strange: he forgets the calls to prayer and spends his nights on the mountain. A dead girl is found in the river; conflict around the stone quarry escalates; treasure hunters arrive, and soon there is a dead body with his mouth filled with stones. Neandria tells of the trials these villagers undergo between the day the imam arrives and the day he leaves. Jealousy, ambition and fear overtake life. Suna is the only one with the innocence and the courage to ask: ‘Who is to tell you what is good? Who is to tell you your path?’

“Life in remote, rural areas has always been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, with the uniqueness of such settings and their difference from the urban ones frequently resulting in intriguing narratives. Reha Erdem attempts something similar with his latest work, “Neandria” but also moves much further, presenting the microcosm of the village as a sample of a number of issues tormenting the world nowadays.” – Panos Kotzathanasis, Asian Movie Pulse

Selected Festivals and Awards

• Warsaw Film Festival, Poland (2023): World Premiere
• Thessaloniki Film Festival, Greece (2023)

Director REHA ERDEM

Director, screenwriter and editor Reha Erdem’s directorial debut was in 1989 with Oh Moon (A Ay). All of his 10 films travelled and received critical acclaim and many awards in festivals including Locarno, Toronto and Berlin. Reha Erdem's films were screened at the Boston Turkish Film Festival in previous years and he was presented BTFF Award for Excellence in Turkish Cinema.

 

Filmography:

Neandria (2023)
Hey There! / Seni Buldum Ya! (2020)
Big Big World / Koca Dünya (2016)
Singing Women / Şarkı Söyleyen Kadınlar (2013)
Jin (2013)
Cosmos / Kosmos (2010)
My Only Sunshine / Hayat Var (2008)
Times and Winds / Beş Vakit (2006)
Mommy! I'm Scared / Korkuyorum Anne (2004)
A Run for Money / Kaç Para Kaç (1999)
Oh, Moon / A, Ay (1989)

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