Salvation
Winner of the Berlinale’s Silver Bear, Emin Alper’s tense, visually striking drama explores the explosive consequences when territorial rivalries ignite in a remote Turkish mountain village.
Description
Winner of the Berlinale’s Silver Bear, Emin Alper’s (Frenzy, Festival 2016) electrifying drama of power struggles in a Turkish mountain village exposes the chaos that erupts when territorialism takes root. In the unnamed community, two tribes clash over land and the right to harvest it. Mesut, haunted by troubling dreams he believes are prophetic, stakes his claim as the new sheikh. As his power grab fans inflammatory rhetoric, he becomes the figure rallying those who long for revenge. Alper’s assured filmmaking blurs dreams and reality, while a tremendous ensemble cast conveys both vulnerability and menace. With striking visual flair, Salvation illuminates how fear, suspicion, and strongman rhetoric create circumstances where no one is safe … or saved. —Rod Armstrong
Biographies
Emin Alper is an actor, writer, historian, and award-winning filmmaker. The Karaman, Turkey, native studied Economics at Boğaziçi University, and also holds a PhD in Modern Turkish History. His first feature, Beyond the Hill (2012), won the Berlinale’s Caligari Film Prize. His other films include Frenzy (Festival 2016), A Tale of Three Sisters (2019), and Burning Days (2022).
