MFAH Presents Seventh Annual Houston Turkish Film Festival

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, presents the 7th annual Houston Turkish Film Festival, featuring five acclaimed releases from Turkey and appearances by three visiting filmmakers. Visit mfah.org/tff for more details regarding films and speakers.

Sibel
*Introduction and post-film Q&A led by directors
(Directed by Guillaume Giovanetti and Cagla
Zencirci, Turkey/France/Germany/Luxembourg,
2018, 95 min., in Turkish with English subtitles)
Friday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m.
Twenty-five-year-old Sibel lives with her father and sister in a secluded village overlooking the Black Sea. She is a mute and only able to communicate through an ancestral whistle language and is shunned by her fellow villagers. Despite their rejection, Sibel relentlessly searches for a wolf that is believed to be prowling in the neighboring forest, but instead crosses paths with a wounded fugitive - the first person to see Sibel differently.

Ayla: The Daughter of War (Ayla)
*Introduction and post-film Q&A led by producer Çağlar Ercan
(Directed by Can Ulkay, Turkey, 2017, 125 min., in Korean, Turkish, and Chinese with English subtitles)
Saturday, Oct. 12, 4 p.m.
Based on a true story, this powerful film follows Sergeant Süleyman (Ismail Hacioglu), who stumbled upon a half-frozen little girl amid the ravages of the Korean War in 1950. Süleyman risks his own life to save her by smuggling the child onto his army base, where the two form an inseparable bond. As the war comes to a close, Süleyman cannot bear abandoning Ayla and does everything within his power to take her home with him.

Turkish Ice Cream (Türk işi dondurma)
*Introduction and post-film Q&A led by producer Çağlar Ercan
(Directed by Can Ulkay, Turkey, 2019, 120 min., in Turkish)
Saturday, Oct. 12, 7 p.m.
This wartime drama follows two Turkish immigrants living in Australia during World War I: Mehmet (Ali Atay), who operates a popular ice cream cart, and Ali (Erkan Kolçak Köstendil), a fairground cameleer. When the Ottoman Empire joins the war, the two men are ostracized by their Australian neighbors and face obstacles preventing their return to Turkey to enlist.

The Pigeon (Güvercin)
(Directed by Banu Sivaci, Turkey, 2018, 76 min., in Turkish)
Sunday, Oct. 13, at 3 p.m.
Yusuf, a teenaged loner, faithfully tends to the pigeons inherited from his father on the rooftop of his home in Adana. His favorite is Maverdi, a light gray bird that is the outsider of the flock - much like Yusuf. This coming-of-age story unfolds as Yusuf’s brother forces him to get a job to earn money, removing him from this peaceful world among the pigeons.

Serial Cook (Sofra sirlari)
(Directed by Ümit Ünal, Turkey, 2017, 103 min., in Turkish)
Sunday, Oct. 13, 5 p.m.
Neslihan is a talented chef and accomplished housewife, who becomes the number one suspect in her town’s series of mysterious murders. The newly appointed deputy - clever, ambitious, and trained in the United States - feels there is a link between Neslihan and the murders.