''Honey'' ( tr, Bal) is a 2010 Turkish

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super- ...

directed by

Semih Kaplanoğlu Semih Kaplanoğlu (born 4 April 1963) is a Turkish screenwriter, film director and producer. Life and career In 1984, Kaplanoğlu moved to Istanbul and worked for a couple of years as a copywriter for advertising companies like Güzel Sanatlar ...

, the third and final installment of the "Yusuf Trilogy", which includes '' Egg'' and ''Milk''. It premiered on 16 February 2010 in competition at the

60th Berlin International Film Festival The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama '' Apart Together'', in com ...

, where it became the third Turkish film, after ''

Susuz Yaz ''Dry Summer'' (a.k.a. ''Reflections''; tr, Susuz Yaz) is a 1964 black-and-white Turkish drama film, co-produced, co-written and directed by Metin Erksan based on a novel by Necati Cumalı, featuring Erol Taş as a tobacco farmer, who dams a riv ...

'' in 1964 and '' Head-On'' in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, to win the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear (german: Goldener Bär) is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival. The bear is the heraldic animal of Berlin, featured on both the coat of arms and flag of Berlin. History The win ...

award.. The film, which went on general release across Turkey on 9 April 2010, was selected as Turkey's official candidate for the

Best Foreign Film Oscar Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporation ...

at the

83rd Academy Awards The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, organized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles b ...

but it did not make the final shortlist.

Plot

In the remote and undeveloped eastern

Black Sea region The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop. It is bordered by the Marmara Regio ...

, a six-year-old boy (Yusuf) wanders through the woods searching for his lost father, trying to make sense of his life. His father is a beekeeper whose bees have disappeared unexpectedly, threatening his livelihood. A bizarre accident kills the father.. There is little dialogue or music in the film. The three main characters (Yusuf and his parents) are all fairly taciturn, and the soundtrack is filled out with the sounds of the forest and the creatures that live there. The environment is a recurring theme..

Cast

Erdal Beşikçioğlu Erdal Beşikçioğlu (; born 5 January 1970) is a Turkish actor. Biography Erdal Beşikçioğlu is of paternal Laz and maternal Albanian descent. He is a maternal nephew of İlhan Cavcav. Beşikçioğlu attended İzmir Private Turkish Colle ...

as Yakup * Tülin Özen as Zehra * Alev Uçarer * Bora Altaş as Yusuf * Ayşe Altay

Production

''Honey'' is the last installment of Kaplanoğlu's autobiographical "Yusuf Trilogy", named after the central character, preceded by '' Egg'' (''Yumurta'', 2007) and ''

Milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...

'' (''Süt'', 2008). ''Egg'' was screened at Cannes, ''Milk'' at Venice. The trilogy runs in reverse chronological order, and ''Honey'' explores Yusuf's early childhood. The film was shot in

Çamlıhemşin Çamlıhemşin, formerly Vice, ( lzz, ვიჯა ''Vija'' or ვიჯე ''Vije'' ; ka, ვიჯა ''Vija'' ) is a small town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. With its mountains and valleys in all shades of ...

district in

Rize Province Rize Province ( tr, Rize ili) is a province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. The province of Erzurum is to the south. It was formerly known as Lazistan, the designation of the term of Lazistan ...

in northeastern Turkey, and was jointly produced by Turkey's Kaplan Film Production and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

's Heimatfilm, and shot in the mountains of Turkey. The scriptwriting was supported by a 25,000

Turkish lira The lira ( tr, Türk lirası; sign: ₺; ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. One lira is divided into one hundred '' kuruş''. History Ottoman lira (1844–1923) The lira, along wi ...

grant (approx. €12,000 or $16,500) from Script Development Fund of the Antalya Eurasia Film Festival, while the production was supported by funding from the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it has 46 member states, with a p ...

Eurimages Eurimages is a cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, established in 1989. Eurimages promotes independent filmmaking by providing financial support to feature-length fiction, animation, and documentary films. In doing so, it encourages c ...

fund, the North Rhine Westphalia Film Foundation and the television stations ZDF and

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

Critical reception

The film received positive reviews from critics. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reports that 88%, out of 25 professional critics, gave the film a positive review. Katja Nicodemus (''Die Zeit'') praised the film as an "existential narrative about the world view of a child, about loss and mourning". She picks out the calm rhythm and the

landscape photography Landscape photography shows the spaces within the world, sometimes vast and unending, but other times microscopic. Landscape photographs typically capture the presence of nature but can also focus on man-made features or disturbances of landscapes ...

: "In ''Bal'', you believe you can smell the rain drizzling on the boy on his way to school". Detlef Kuhlbrodt (''Die Tageszeitung'') spoke of Kaplanoğlu's "

meditative Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

" film, while Christina Tilmann (''Tagesspiegel'') described it as "one of the most beautiful and most intimate films of this festival", made from unspectacular ingredients "... a film that lets the viewer dream. It feels like wind, like oxygen, air that you want to keep with you for as long as you can. Or like the Sun shining in the forest through marvelously tower-high trees."

Accolades

''Honey'' beat 19 other films from around the world to win the

award. Its win was seen as a "surprise" by some. Kaplanoğlu reacted by recalling an encounter with a bear while filming, "The bear is now back." At a press conference the director said: "In the name of Turkish Films, this is a very meaningful prize. It's a help to making better films". It was nominated for Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography at the

23rd European Film Awards The 23rd European Film Awards were presented on 4 December, 2010, in Tallinn, Estonia. Winners and nominees The nominations for the 23rd European Film Awards were announced on 6 November at the Seville European Film Festival. Best Film Best ...

References

External links

Official website
of Kaplan Film * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Honey 2010 films 2010 drama films German drama films 2010s Turkish-language films Turkish drama films Best Picture Golden Boll Award winners Films directed by Semih Kaplanoğlu Films set in Turkey Golden Bear winners 2010s German films