May 1, 2012
SFFILM
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Bir zamanlar Anadolu’da, Turkey/Bosnia and Herzogovina 2011), a masterly portrait of a murder investigation that in the skillful hands of celebrated Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan yields a quietly poignant portrait of the human condition, opens an exclusive San Francisco return engagement in 35mm May 25 at San Francisco Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street).
Ceylan’s (Three Monkeys, SFFS 2009) masterful police procedural, filmed on Turkey’s expansive Anatolian steppes, depicts a group of law officials riding around the countryside searching for a murder site. Unfortunately for the traveling party, however, the accused can’t find the exact location. As the caravan stops and starts, conversations reveal other mysteries and several characters besides the arrested man unburden themselves to one another. Though the film references classic westerns and rivals their visual splendors, Anatolia is more deeply concerned with the human condition whether revealed in the group’s reactions to a beautiful woman from the country or a young doctor’s autopsy of the murdered man. Written by Ercan Kesal, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Photographed by Gokhan Tiryaki. With Muhammet Uzuner, Yilmaz Erdogan, Taner Birsel. In Turkish with subtitles. 157 min. Distributed by Cinema Guild.
Showtimes 2:00, 5:30, 8:30 pm
Tickets $9 for SFFS members, $11 general, $10 senior/student/disabled. Box office now open online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema.
To request screeners contact bproctor@sffs.org.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
At SF Film Society Cinema, the stylish state-of-the art theater located in the New People building at 1746 Post Street (Webster/Buchanan) in Japantown, the San Francisco Film Society offers its acclaimed exhibition, education and filmmaker services programs and events on a daily year-round basis.
Upcoming San Francisco Film Society programs
Through May 3: 55th San Francisco International Film Festival
Opening May 4: The Day He Arrives
Opening May 11: Here
Opening May 11: Michael
Opening May 18: Four Adventures of Reinette and Mirabelle and Le Rayon Vert (Summer)