''Burning Days'' () is a Turkish-

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

drama film, directed by Emin Alper and released in 2022. The film centres on Emre (

Selahattin Paşalı Selahattin Paşalı (born 2 February 1990) is a Turkish actor. Early life and career Paşalı was born on 2 February 1990 in Bodrum. He joined Darüşşafaka Sports Club at the age of 14 and served as a team captain during his time there. He ...

), a lawyer newly appointed as the state prosecutor in a small drought-ridden town plagued by

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are also known as shakeholes, and to openings where surface water ...

s, who is drawn into political conflicts around local corruption, with his authority challenged both by being drugged at a party where a young woman named Peknez (Eylul Ersoz) was raped, as well as by allegations that he is having a sexual relationship with Murat ( Ekin Koç), the editor of the local anti-establishment newspaper. The cast also includes Erol Babaoglu, Erdem Senocak, Selin Yeninci, Sinan Demirer, Nizam Namidar, Ali Seçkiner Alıcı, Onur Gürçay, Mehmet Kervanci,

Hatice Aslan Hatice Aslan (born 20 February 1962) is a Turkish actress who starred in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 2008 film '' Üç Maymun (The Three Monkeys)'', for which Ceylan won the best director award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Fest ...

, Gönenç Acaroglu, Salih Aydin, Tuncay Demiras, Mustafa Elma and Enver Husrevoglu.

Distribution

The film premiered in the

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

program at the

2022 Cannes Film Festival The 75th annual Cannes Film Festival is a film festival that took place from 17 to 28 May 2022. French actor Vincent Lindon served as jury president for the main competition. French actress Virginie Efira hosted the opening and closing ceremon ...

, where it was a nominee for the

Queer Palm The Queer Palm is an independently sponsored prize for selected LGBT-relevant films entered into the Cannes Film Festival. The award was founded in 2010 by journalist Franck Finance-Madureira. It is sponsored by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Mart ...

. It had its Turkish premiere at the

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, t ...

in October 2022.

Controversy

In December 2022, well after the film had already premiered both at Cannes and Antalya, the Turkish General Directorate of Cinema demanded repayment of the production funding it had granted to the film.Ben Dalton
"Turkish government demands repayment of funding from Queer Palm-nominated ‘Burning Days’"
''

Screen Daily ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'', December 13, 2022. Although they did not officially state a reason for the demand, it was believed to relate to the controversy around the film's LGBTQ themes.

Awards

Özcan Vardar and Eytan Ipeker won the

European Film Award The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most ...

for Best Editor at the 35th European Film Awards. The film won nine awards at Antalya, including Best Director (Alper), Best Actor (Paşalı), Best Supporting Actor (Babaoğlu), Best Cinematography (Christos Karamanis), Best Music (Stefan Will), Best Editing (Vardar, İpeker), the Turkish Film Critics’ Association Award and the Cahide Sonku Award (Çiğdem Mater).Vassilis Economou
"Özcan Alper’s Black Night emerges victorious at the 59th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival"
''Cineuropa'', October 10, 2022.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 14859416 2022 films 2022 drama films 2022 LGBTQ-related films Turkish drama films Turkish LGBTQ-related films French drama films French LGBTQ-related films 2020s Turkish-language films 2020s French films 2020s LGBTQ-related drama films Films directed by Emin Alper