Pandora'nın Kutusu
Pandora’s Box
Yeşim Ustaoğlu
»Two entities meet up on equal terms without memory, but also without fear of contact; a utopia, briefly lived out against picturesque mountain landscape.«
– Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin
Nusret has spent her entire life in the same village on the Black Sea coast, her three adult children having long since moved to Istanbul. One day, they receive the news that her mother has disappeared without trace. After they have worked out that she is suffering from Alzheimer’s, each family member is now confronted with a time of upheaval and questions about their own life. Nesrin, trapped in her middle-class existence, cannot let go of her adolescent son Murat who runs away from home anyway. Güzin is a successful businesswoman but stuck in an unhappy relationship with a married man. Mehmet, a drop-out leading an aimless life with too much alcohol and marijuana, is despised by his sisters, on whom he sponges.
All of them have little time for their mother. Only her grandson, Murat, manages to gain some kind of empathy with his grandmother. »Slowly but surely,« says the director, »idealism is replaced by conformism, « as
her film gets to the core of a problem facing modern societies.
Awards for ›Pandora’nın Kutusu‹
Goldene Muschel für den besten Film, San Sebastián Film Festival, Spanien, 2008 | Silberne Muschel für die beste Schauspielerin, San Sebastián Film Festival, Spanien, 2008
Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Turkish director and screenwriter Yeşim Ustaoğlu was born in 1960 in Çaykara. After completing several award-winning shorts, she made her feature film debut in 1994 with The Trace. Her 1999 film, Journey to the Sun received international recognition and was awarded with the Blue Angel at the Berlin Film Festival, among others. Her other films Waiting for the Clouds, Pandora’s Box, and Araf also won several awards at festivals internationally.
Films by Yeşim Ustaoğlu
Araf (Somewhere in-between) 2012 | Pandora’nın kutusu (Pandora’s Box) 2008 | Sirtlarindaki hayat (Short) 2004 | Bulutları beklerken (Waiting for the Clouds) 2003 | Güneşe Yolculuk (Journey to the Sun) 1999 | İz (The Trace) 1994 | Hotel (Short) 1992 | Duet (Short) 1990| Magnafantagna (Short) 1987 | Bir ani yakalamak (Short) 1984