‘Cold of Kalandar’ is Turkey’s Oscar entry

ISTANBUL

Director Mustafa Kara’s “Kalandar Sogugu” (Cold of Kalandar) was selected Sept. 27 as Turkey’s nominee for the Foreign Language Academy Award entry.  

The Artistic Activities Committee said in a statement that a 17-member board, including representatives of the Culture Ministry and Turkish cinema associations, chose the entry from among nine films to be Turkey’s Oscar nominee at the 89th Academy Awards next year.      

Written by Kara and Bilal Sert the drama pictures the naive portrait of a touching life, and the struggle and the relationship between nature, animals and humans, according to the film’s official website.      

The award-winning film, which premiered at the Tokyo Film Festival in 2015 and won the Best Director Award, stars Haydar Şişman, Nuray Yeşilaraz and Hanife Kara.      

The selection by Turkey still leaves a long road before the film can win the Oscar.      

Every country is invited to submit one film to the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Those films are then evaluated by the Foreign Language Film Award Committee, which selects the five nominees for best foreign-language film.      

In 2015, Turkey selected Kaan Müjdeci’s film “Sivas” for an Oscar entry but the film was not named one of the final five nominees at this year’s Academy Awards.