Next Masters of Asian Cinema: 'Once Upon a Time in Anatolia,' Feb. 12

The next Masters of Asian Cinema film is director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2011 feature, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, which screens on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. at Pickford Film Center, 1318 Bay Street in Bellingham.  

Ceylan uses the loose frame of a  police procedural to peel away the layers of personality from a group of officials as they try to find a body with the help of the murderer who can't quite remember it is buried. Largely unfolding over a single evening, we gradually learn about some of these men, (particularly a prosecutor and a doctor), through their conversations. We learn something about the murderer as well, though he is largely silent. This is a nuanced and deeply humane film.

Co-sponsored by Western Libraries and the Pickford Film Center, the Masters  of Asian Cinema series continues the rich tradition that began with the Masters of Japanese Cinema series, one of the Pickford's longest running and most popular series. Each film in the Masters of Asian Cinema series begins with an introduction from select speakers including local professors, artists, and educators.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia will be introduced by Eren Odabasi, Assistant Professor of Global Cinema in the Department of English at Western Washington University. His research and teaching interests include media policy and governance, diasporic filmmakers and audiences, and auteur theory.

He has presented and published several articles on film festivals and transnational film production. As a film critic, he has been writing extensively for the Turkish monthly film magazine Altyazi since 2008.

In recognition of his work in film criticism, he was invited to the Talents Program of the Berlin International Film Festival twice and served as a jury member in the Semaine de la Critique section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2013.

For more information about these events, or about the Masters of Asian Cinema series, please contact Jeff.Purdue@wwu.edu.