Cannes Festival winner ‘Winter Sleep’ comes to silver screen soon

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film, “Kış Uykusu” (Winter Sleep), which won the coveted Palme d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival on May 24, will come to movie theaters on June 13.

Starring Haluk Bilginer, Melisa Sözen and Demet Akbağ, the film will be released in 150 halls in 123 movie theaters in 39 cities.  

“Winter Sleep,” which also won the FIPRESCI Award at the festival, was only the second film by a Turkish director to win the festival’s highest honor, after Yılmaz Güney and Şerif Gören’s classic “Yol” (The Way - 1982).

“Winter Sleep” is the story of Aydın (Bilginer), a former actor who now runs a mountaintop hotel, and is dealing with his failing marriage.

He sees himself as the region’s kind ruler, intervening in the business of the townspeople below the mountain. In reality, almost everyone, including his wife, dislikes Aydın. He has a pompous column in the local newspaper and is writing a book on Turkish history. Conversations dominate the film as the inner workings of the characters are slowly revealed.

Previously, Ceylan won the best actor and the jury grand prize for his “Uzak” (Distant) and FIBRESCI for “İklimler” (Climates). His film “Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da” (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) was also awarded at the festival in 2011.