The film, penned by Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, is set to make its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Turkey has officially chosen Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s drama About Dry Grasses as its entry for the Academy Awards‘ International Feature Film category. This marks the sixth time that Turkey has selected a film by Ceylan to represent the country at the Oscars.
The film About Dry Grasses made its world premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it garnered acclaim and earned the Best Actress award for Merve Dizdar’s performance.
North American audiences will have the opportunity to watch the film during its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 13. Furthermore, it will be featured in the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival in October.
About Dry Grasses is a collaborative effort between Turkish public broadcaster TRT and ARTE France. The film boasts an ensemble cast including Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici, and Ece Bağcı. The screenplay was co-written by Akin Aksu, Ebru Ceylan, and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film is produced by NBC Film, Memento Production, and Komplizen Film Production.
About Dry Grasses centres on a young art teacher who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in. An encounter with Nuray, herself a teacher, could be the key to overcoming his angst.