‘Present Tense’
‘Present Tense’ tells the story of Mina, a young unemployed woman who lives in Istanbul and takes a job reading fortunes in coffee cups to find a way to start a new life. Belmin Söylemez’s first feature film won the prestigious New Director’s Prize at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival.
In Turkey, ‘Present Tense’ was crowned with the Yılmaz Güney Special Jury Award and Critics Prize in the National Competition of the 22nd Golden Boll FF. The film also brought Sanem Öge best actress awards in the 31st Istanbul FF and the 24th Ankara FF.
The international journey of Present Tense started in Sarajevo and followed an exciting route through Hamburg, Montpellier, Bratislava, Turin, Kerala, Linz, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Taipei, Toronto, Rome, Cairo, Tromso, Montevideo, Cologne...
Watch Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E9oWF0xUsE
‘Present Tense’ travels to Uruguay
This spring, Mina travelled to the south of America to meet the audience in Uruguay.
The Latin American premiere of ‘Present Tense’ took place in the 32st International Uruguay Montevideo Film Festival, held between April 10-20th 2014. The film was screened as part of the Panorama section.
http://www.cinemateca.org.uy/PDF/475.pdf
http://www.cinemateca.org.uy/
Dortmund Cologne International Women’s FF focuses on Turkey
The Dortmund Cologne International Film Festival (April 8-13th 2014) presents a selection of Turkish women film-makers and their films in this year’s country Focus: Turkey. ‘Present Tense’ was also a part of the section, together with other films from Turkish women directors such as ‘Nobody’s Home’, ’10 to 11’,’Pandora’s Box’,’The Last Shore’,’Boreas’.
‘Present Tense’ at Filmmor Women’s Film Festival
Spring began with ‘Present Tense’ screening at the 12. International Filmmor Women's Film Festival on Wheels. Director Belmin Söylemez attended the Q&A’s after the screenings in Pera Museum (March 20th) and Istanbul Modern Museum(March 21st) Istanbul.
‘The main theme of the festival this year: A Purse of Her Own. A job, an income, a budget of her own…We also wanted to pay a tribute on the twentieth anniversary of her death, one of the first Turkish women directors who resisted, paying high prices in order to make films; Bilge Olgaç, with gratitude and three films.’
A panel discussion on Bilge Olgaç took place in Istanbul Modern Museum (March 20th), with actress Füsun Demirel, director Belmin Söylemez, and director Melek Özman from Filmmor.
The Festival also travelled to Mersin, Adana and Bodrum with screenings throughout April 2014.
http://www.tiff.no/en/program/2014/present-tense
Mina goes far North
The first international trip of 2014 for ‘Present Tense’ was far north, to Tromso, Norway. ‘Present Tense’ was screened here in the Critic’s Choice section of the Tromso International Film Festival on the 14th and 16th January 2014. An extra screening was added due to the film’s popularity. Fipresci President Alin Taşcıyan who had chosen the film for this section, introduced the film at the screening on January 14th at Kulturhuset Theater.
http://www.tiff.no/en/program/2014/present-tense
Cairo Women’s Film Festival
‘Present Tense’ was screened in Cairo Egypt, in the ‘International Panorama’ Section of the 6th Cairo Women’s Film Festival, on 20th November 2013, in AUC Ewart Hall, Cairo.
http://cairowomenfilmfest.com/?page_id=144
Present Tense’s Germany Tour Crowned with yet another ‘Best Actress’ Prize
‘Present Tense’ had its German premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival in September 2012. The film was back in Germany this autumn, first at the 22nd Manheim Turkish Film Festival which took place between 11-22 October 2013. The film’s screening was held on the opening night of the Festival in Karlstorkino, Heidelberg.
http://turkfilmfest-mannheim.de/filme/gegenwart/
The Germany season continued with ‘Present Tense’ in the competition at the 13th Frankfurt Turkish Film Festival (25 Oct-2 Nov 2013). Producer/script-writer Haşmet Topaloğlu attended the Q&A at the Metropolis Kino Frankfurt, as well as the award ceremony. The festival ended with more good news for ‘Present Tense’: Lead actress Sanem Öge won her third ‘Best Actress’ Prize. She had been previously crowned at both the Istanbul and Ankara Film Festivals.
http://www.turkfilmfestival.de/
Present Tense’s next stop in Germany was Cologne, at ‘Filmreihe Tüpisch Türkisch’. The screening was held in FilmhausKino Köln. Producer/script-writer Haşmet Topaloğlu attended the Q&A, answering questions by Amin Farzanefar, programmer of the ‘Tüpisch Türkisch’. The screening was followed by a special reception of Turkish cuisine in FilmhausKino.
https://www.facebook.com/Filmreihe.Tuepisch.Tuerkisch
The next destination in Germany was Stuttgart. ‘Present Tense’ /‘Gegenwart’ was screened at the 11th German-Turkish Film Week, in Delphi Arthaus Kino Stuttgart on 29 November 2013.
http://www.dtf-stuttgart.de/bereiche/kunst-kultur/sinema/2013/simdiki-zaman.html
‘New Turkish Cinema’ film screenings at Bosphorus University MAFM
‘Present Tense’ was shown as part of ‘New Turkish Cinema’ film screenings at Mithat Alam Film Center in the Bosphorus University. A panel discussion with young Turkish directors on ‘New Turkish Cinema’ also took place, moderated by film critic Senem Aytaç.
Count Us In! at the Istanbul Modern Museum Cinema
Present Tense was screened in Istanbul Modern Museum Cinema, as part of a program of new Turkish cinema: Count Us In!
‘The films in the program, released in the past two years, have made a mark, have aroused interest in Turkey or abroad…Introducing new characters and new representations of identity, and adding new social approaches to Turkish cinema…’
http://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/cinema/past-programs/count-us-in_1248.html
‘Faces of Recent Turkish Cinema’ at the Chicago Turkish Film Festival
The Second Annual Chicago Turkish Film Festival was held at the Gene Siskel Film Center, located in the heart of Chicago’s theater district. ‘Present Tense’ was screened on Sept 27 and 28. 2013.
‘From September 9 to October 3, the Gene Siskel Film Center in partnership with the Chicago Turkish film Committee presents the ‘Faces of Recent Turkish Cinema’ a series of four films sampling recent trends in one of the world’s most vital national cinemas.’
http://www.siskelfilmcenter.org/turkishcinema2013
http://www.chicagoturkishfilmfestival.org/
‘Il Tempo Presente’ in Rome
‘Present Tense’ travelled to Rome, as part of the 3rd Rome Turkish Film Festival. The festival took place between 26-29 September 2013, showcasing recent examples of Turkish Cinema as well as a special section in honour of Yılmaz Güney. All screenings took place in Cinema Barberini, in the heart of Rome. The screening of ‘Present Tense’ was introduced by the festival’s honorary director, Ferzan Özpetek, who presented the film and director Belmin Söylemez to the Roman audience.
http://www.filmfestivalturcodiroma.org/programma
‘Present Tense’ theatrical release in Turkey
‘Present Tense’ was screened in theaters throughout Turkey beginning September 6th 2013. A number of special screenings were held with the filmmakers and actors.
‘Present Tense’ was screened with English subtitles in all theaters. The theatrical release lasted 4 weeks in autumn.
2014 brought a new chance for screenings throughout Anatolia, in cities including Urfa, Batman and Diyarbakır.
The film was also screened between 3-10 January 2014 in Istanbul at the Levent Cultural Center as part of the ‘New Cinema Movement’ film screenings.
‘New Directors Prize’ Winner ‘Present Tense’ Travels To Toronto
‘Present Tense’ tells the story of a young unemployed woman who reads fortunes in coffee cups to find a way to start a new life. Belmin Söylemez’s first feature film recently won the prestigious New Director’s Prize at the 56th San Francisco International Film Festival.
The international journey of Present Tense started in Sarajevo and followed an exciting route through Hamburg, Montpellier, Bratislava, Turin, Kerala, Linz, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Taipei.
The next stop will be Toronto, Canada. ‘Present Tense’ will be screened as part of ‘Rebel Yell – A New Generation of Turkish Women Filmmakers’ programme. ‘Rebel Yell’ curated by Rasha Salti will be presented at Toronto Film Festival’s Cinemateque, TIFF Bell Lightbox.
www.torontointernationalfilmfestival.ca/filmsandschedules/‘Best Actress Award’ for Sanem Öge at the Ankara FF
Sanem Öge won the ‘Best Actress Award’ at the 24th Ankara Film Festival with her performance as Mina in ‘Present Tense’. She had also received the ‘Best Actress Award’ at the 31st Istanbul Film Festival with the same role.
‘Present Tense’ is Belmin Söylemez’s first feature film and tells the story of a young unemployed woman who reads fortunes in coffee cups to find a way to start a new life.
The film has already been crowned with awards at the National Golden Boll Festival including the prestigious Yılmaz Güney and Critics Prize for Best Film.
The international journey of Present Tense started in Sarajevo and followed an exciting route through Hamburg, Montpellier, Bratislava, Turin, Kerala and London.
The journey continues through Crossing Europe Film Festival in Linz, Austria (23-27 April), Block Museum Cinema, Chicago (May 1st), SEEFEST LA (May 3-6 ) and San Francisco International Film Festival (April 27-9 May),Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival Pittsburg, Pennsylvania (11-19 May), Flying Broom Women’s Film Festival, Ankara, Turkey (May 9-16).
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-film-to-travel-united-states-festivals.
Present Tense Goes to London
'Present Tense' met with Londoners at the London Turkish Film Festival. The first screening took place at the ICA on Feb 23rd. The second screening was in Rio Cinema, Feb 27th. Following the screenings, a review on the women characters in ‘Present Tense’ and ‘Jin’ was published on Reorient Mag by Rima Chahrour, entitled ‘Superstition and Make-Believe in the films of Erdem & Söylemez’.
http://www.reorientmag.com/2013/03/reha-erdem-jin/
http://www.ltff.co.uk/feature_films/present_tense.php
http://www.ica.org.uk/36513/Film/-Present-Tense.html
Present Tense’s Journey through India
The festival season in December 2012 continued with “Present Tense” travelling to India. The Indian premiere took place in the competition section of the 17th International Film Festival of Kerala in Trivandrum with a full house audience.
http://iffk17.blogspot.in/2012/12/photos-meet-directors-13th-decemberdr.html
http://iffk.in/index.php?page=compfilms_12
After Kerala, the film travelled to the east coast of India, to Chennai and was screened at the 10th Chennai International Film Festival.
http://www.chennaifilmfest.com/gallery.html?&albumid=5823095538643059073
Travelling with the ‘Festival on Wheels’
Back in Turkey, ‘Present Tense’ was screened in the programme of the 18th ‘Festival on Wheels’ first in capital city Ankara and then in Sinop, a beautiful city on the Black Sea shore.
>http://www.festivalonwheels.org/festival_on_wheels.aspx?page=festival_on_wheels
http://www.festivalonwheels.org/img/fow18/02turkiye/turkiye007.html
Present Tense’s Coffee Grains in Turin and Florence30th Torino Film Festival was the Italian premiere for ‘Present Tense’. In the International Feature Films competition, the first screening was presented by festival director Gianni Amelio, followed by a Q&A with Barbara Grespi and Belmin Söylemez. The screenings in Turin were met with great interest from the audience and film professionals.
http://torinofilmfest.org/?action=article&id=306&menu=1
‘Present Tense’s trip in Italy continued with the 34th Florence International Festival of Cinema and Women, ‘Laboratorio Imagine Donna’. The Florentine premiere of the film was held in the historical Odeon theater following a special Turkish reception. The Q&A was presented by festival director Paola Paoli.
http://www.laboratorioimmaginedonna.it/?page_id=2933
‘Present Tense’ in Bratislava, Slovakia‘Present Tense’s international festival journey continued with the 14th International Film Festival Bratislava (Slovakia) in November 2012. As part of the First and Second Films Competition Programme, the film’s screenings were followed by Q&A’s presented by festival director Nenad Dukic.
http://www.iffbratislava.com/film-catalogue/2012/present-tense/
‘Present Tense’ in Malatya‘Present Tense’ travelled to Malatya, in the east of Turkey as part of the National competition of the 3rd International Malatya Film Festival. Actresses Sanem Öge, Şenay Aydın, actor Ozan Bilen and director Belmin Söylemez attended the Q&A after the screening at Yeşil Cinema.
http://www.malatyafilmfest.org.tr/eng/hakkinda.php
Montpellier welcomed “Present Tense”
The French premier of Belmin Söylemez’s debut feature film ‘Present Tense’ s took place at the 34th Cinemed Film Festival, Montpellier. Now in its 34th year, the festival hosted many films from the Mediterrenean region as well as retrospectives of Roberto Rosellini and Costa Gavras. The opening ceremony in Opera Berlioz was attended by the legendary Costa Gavras and actor Gad Elmalah, to introduce Gavras’s latest film ‘Le Capital’.
‘Present Tense’ was in the ‘Panorama’ section. The first screening was presented by festival director Jean-François Bourgeot and director Belmin Söylemez .
http://www.cinemed.tm.fr/
Belmin Söylemez’s debut feature film ‘Present Tense’ s German premier took place in FilmFest Hamburg. Filmfest Hamburg celebrated its 20th anniversary this year. With a showcase of 140 films, the Festival was attended by many international guests from the film world.
The screenings of Present Tense took place in Abaton Cinema, one of Hamburg’s old movie theaters. Director Belmin Söylemez and producer Hasmet Topaloğlu attended the QA’s, answering the questions of the Hamburg audience.
http://www.filmfesthamburg.de/en/programm/film/Present-Tense/8433
http://www.filmfesthamburg.de/en/
Present Tense’ has won three awards, including the the highly prestigious ‘Yılmaz Güney Award’, Critics Award and Film Directors’ Association Award at the national competition of the 19th Golden Boll Film Festival, Adana Turkey.
http://www.altinkozafestivali.org.tr/index.php/en/Filmbüfe has been established by Belmin Söylemez and Haşmet Topaloğlu in 2009. The company focuses on producing feature films as well as documentaries and shorts www.filmbufe.com
A young unemployed woman applies to a fortune-telling café lying that she has experience. While she reads the coffee cups of many different women, she also tries to find a way out herself. Divorced her husband, severed the ties with her family, and now is being thrown out of her flat. She is surrounded with troubles. Her mind is made up: she will escape to America like her rebellious aunt did some years ago. But how? She needs money, papers and a visa. Through the shapes emerging in coffee cups, she expresses her own frustrations and desires to match with those of the customers. Meanwhile, the other young fortuneteller and the rebellious boss at the cafe try to bring her out of her shell. Will she be able to get away from present tense and try her luck for the future?
Filmography:
“‘State of Sleep’” 1999 short film
A short film about dreams and the unconscious.
‘The Moustache’2000 documentary
A documentary about Turkish men and their moustaches.“ZAP!” 2000 short film
A short film about losing and getting lost in Istanbul.
‘Waves’ 2001 short film
A film about seeing the sea for the first time, learning to swim in the deep waters of the Bosphorus.
‘Windows’ 2002 short film (for Oda Projesi)
Daily life in a courtyard in the historical neighbourhood of Galata.‘The Picture of My Life’ 2003 video (for Oda Projesi)
A video about the people of Galata, picturing themselves in photos of the past and present.
“34 Taksi” documentary 2005
A documentary about the taxi drivers of Istanbul.
‘What a Beautiful Democracy!’ documentary 2008 (co-director)
A feature documentary on women from different backgrounds, running as candidates for the Turkish Parliament.
Sanem Öge (Mina)
She studied acting in Şahika Tekand Studio Actors Acting Studio. She completed her studies on acting in Kadir Has University, Department of Film and Drama, Istanbul. She has worked with many important names of the theater world in Turkey, such as Şahika Tekand, Yeşim Gülan, Mahir Günşıray and Özen Yula. After acting in several short films, she played in Uğur Yücel’s ‘Dragon Trap’. She received the‘Actress of the Year’ award in the 2011 Theater Awards, with the play ‘A Century’s Love’ staged by ‘Ve Diğer Şeyler Topluluğu’ (VDST Theatre Group).
Şenay Aydin (Fazi)
Born in Bitlis (Southeast Turkey) in 1983, Şenay Aydın first gained recognition in the film “Hidden Faces”(directed by Handan İpekçi) through her role as ‘Zühre’, a young woman who escapes an honour killing. The film brought her public acclaim as well as two ‘best newcomer’ awards. She then played in “A Marketplace” by Ben Hopkins, which won ‘the Best Film’ award in the Antalya Film Festival and participated in international festivals such as Locarno.
She has recently played the Palestinian guerilla ‘Amina’ in the populer TV series ‘Öyle bir Geçer Zaman ki’ on the Turkish TV Channel D.
Ozan Bilen (Tayfun)
He began his film career as a child actor in the the film ‘Don’t Let Them Shoot the Kite’ a political drama set in women’s prison. His role as ‘Barış’ a small boy growing up in prison brought him public acclaim. He then studied acting in Pera Fine Arts Academy. He acted in the films ‘Children of Secret’, ‘Tales from Kars’ and ‘Girdap’. His role as ‘Zagor’ in Zeki Demirkubuz’s film ‘Destiny’ was praised by filmgoers. He recently appeared in Tolga Örnek’s ‘Labyrinth’.
Present Tense / CAST
Directed by: Belmin Söylemez
Written by: Belmin Söylemez & Haşmet Topaloğlu
Director of Photography: Peter Roehsler
Art Director: Revan Barlas
Edited by: Ali Aga & Belmin Söylemez
Sound: Seçkin Kaştaş
Music and Sound Design: Cenker Kökten
Casting: Ezgi Baltaş
Producer: Haşmet Topaloğlu
Production Company: Filmbüfe Film Production
Production Coordinators: Tunca Kunter, Selim Güntürkün
Production Consultant Cihan Aslı Filiz
Assistant Director: Ahmet Yılmaz
2. Assistant Director: Nurten Erdemir
Gaffer: Ersin Aldemir
Assistant DOP: Gabriel Krajanek
Assistant Art Director: Seda Yılmaz
Art Crew: Meral Aktan, Hilal Polat, Firuze Engin
Grip: Mustafa Şahin, Kemal Şahin
Behind the Scenes: Onur Demir
Set Photography: Onur Demir & Seda Yılmaz
Sound Studio: Melodika
Final Mix: Serdar Öngören
Assistant Sound Design: Başak Günak
Foley Studio: Magic Post
Music Consultant: Median Müzik Edisyon
Post Production Studio : Graal
Post Production Manager : Konstantina Stavrianou
Technical Coordination: Yiannis Zaharoyiannis
Colorist : Nikos Panteris
DCP Mastering: Graal
CAST
Mina: Sanem Öge
Fazi: Şenay Aydın
Tayfun: Ozan Bilen
Guard: Suat Oktan
Nesrin: Nesrin Yıldırım
Ersin: Erdi Kement
Education Fair Consultant: Mesut Yılmaz
Exchange Office Cashier: Kemal Cicioğlu
Internet Cafe Cashier: Mustafa Çiçek
Tough Guy: Alparslan Akkuş
Customers: Funda Özgüç, Aliye Karahan, Sezin Bozacı, Ayça Damgacı, Nalan Kuruçim, Elif Ongan Tekçe, Sevil Demirci, Aysun Sayın, Berna Nemli, Fazilet Onat, Meknuze Özgüle, Heves Atasoy, Defne Andaç Tozan,.
Cafe Worker: Ramazan Yet
Street Musicians: Grup Mübin
© Filmbüfe Film Produksiyon 2012