Festival on Wheels shoots for Police, Adjective

The winners of the 15th Festival on Wheels have been
announced. Among the 10 films competing from 10 countries, Corneliu Porumboiu’s latest feature Politist, adj. (Police,
Adjective) won both the Golden Bull and the SİYAD (Turkish Film
Critics’ Association) awards. İki Dil Bir Bavul (On
the Way to School), co-directed by Orhan
Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan, was
named second best film.

The awards ceremony of the 15th Festival on Wheels, an event
organized by the Ankara Cinema
Association with the support of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and
Tourism, was held on 16 December in Artvin. During the ceremony, which was presented
by Ceylan Özçelik in the Ahmet Hamdi
Taşpınar Cultural Centre, the winners of the Golden Bull International Film
Competition were announced.

Golden Bull goes to Police, Adjective

The competition was hosted by the Governorship of Artvin and the Artvin
Muncipality, and featured a jury line-up including Egyptian actress Basma Ahmed Hassan, Israeli film critic
Edna Fainaru, Dutch director Ineke Smits, American film critic Jay Weissberg and Turkish director Reha Erdem. The jury named Politist, adj (Police, Adjective) best film on the basis that “the film combined the cinematographic and verbal power of language
with subtle intelligence in conveying its message”, and awarded Politist,
adj the Golden Bull Award, worth 10,000 Euros.

The film was directed by Corneliu
Porumboiu, a rising star of Eastern European cinema known in Turkey for his
film 12:08
East of Bucharest, and deals with a police officer trapped between motivations
of conscience and the responsibilities of his job as he implements the local
drugs laws.

On the Way to School also a favourite in Artvin

The jury gave the Silver Bull
Award, a 5000 Euro award for the runner-up film, to On the Way to School,
co-directed by Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan. The decision was a
unanimous vote in recognition of the narrative style used to illustrate a
cultural reality that exists in contemporary Turkish society, said the jury,
which also explained that the film was infused with a great sense of humanity
and managed to create an unaffected atmosphere as it presented its serious but
also humorous story through the central character of the teacher.

On the Way to School recounts the experiences of newly graduated Turkish teacher Emre Aydın,
who is posted for his first job to a remote Kurdish village. In the film, the
only documentary in the competition section, we follow Emre for a year as he copes
with the village children, who are new to the classroom and unable to speak
Turkish.

SİYAD also shoots for Police, Adjective

The decision of the SİYAD (Turkish Film Critics’ Association) jury, made
up of Burcu Aykar Şirin, Gözde Onaran and Janet Barış, mirrored that of the main jury. And the SİYAD Prize
was awarded to Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective) for “shattering the conventions of the detective
genre in its opposition of the straightforward logic and inflexibility of the
bureaucracy and the unjustness of the police state, and presenting a viewing
experience in which the reward is kept to the end”.

Best short of the Festival, Next Floor

Last but not least, the winner of the Short Film Audience Award was also announced during the awards
ceremony. Determined by the votes of festival audiences, the 1000 Euro award
went to Next Floor, a short film by Canadian
director Denis Villeneuve, whose
feature Polytechnique has caused controversy at numerous festivals this
year, particularly Cannes.

15TH FESTIVAL ON WHEELS - AWARDS

Golden Bull Award (10,000 Euros)

Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective) - Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania

Silver Bull Award (5000 Euros)

İki Dil Bir Bavul (On the Way to School) - Orhan Eskiköy & Özgür
Doğan, Turkey

SİYAD (Turkish Film Critics’ Association) Award

Politist, adj. (Police, Adjective) - Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania

Short Film Audience Award (1000 Euros)

Next Floor - Denis Villeneuve, Canada