Film on village’s ballet dancers wins int’l awards

ANKARA

The documentary "Village of Ballet Dancers," which chronicles the journey of dancers from Başpınar Village in Çorum who achieved success as ballet artists at the State Opera and Ballet, has garnered awards at four international festivals.

Completed earlier this year, the documentary portrays the journey of 13 ballet dancers from Başpınar, a village in the Osmancık district of Çorum where locals mostly work in agriculture and animal husbandry, who became artists at the State Opera and Ballet.

It highlights how, despite receiving education in major cities, these young dancers maintained strong ties to their roots, returning to their village during the summer to assist their families in farming and livestock work while inspiring local youth.

The film shows how ballet opened doors to a world the dancers could hardly have imagined, and depicts their achievements on stage as well as their work as artists with the State Opera and Ballet.

Director Fatih Diren, a faculty member at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University’s Faculty of Communication, said he became deeply interested in the story after learning about individuals from a village in Çorum becoming ballet dancers.

He explained that the story began with Alaattin Acar, the first ballet dancer from the village in 1973, which later inspired others to follow the same path.

Diren noted that “Village of Ballet Dancers” features appearances by Serbülent Biçer, director of the Mersin State Opera and Ballet, as well as dancers Erdoğan Şanal and Ertan Şanal. Dancer Alperen Dağ, Biçer’s nephew, also plays one of the leading roles in the documentary.

He said that while shooting took two weeks across Çorum, Mersin and Ankara, research for the documentary lasted about a year.

“We submitted the documentary to numerous competitions,” Diren said. “In a very short time, we have received multiple awards, and our documentary will soon be screened at festivals both at home and abroad. We received an Honor Award at the Greece International Film Festival and the Best Short Documentary Award at the Macedonia Art Film Festival. Recently, the film was also officially selected for screening at the Cranford Film Festival in the United States.”

Diren added that the documentary would also be screened in the official selections of the Authentic Global Film Festival in the U.S., the Tirana Mediterranean Film Festival, the Narfest Short Film Festival, the Digital Details Culture and Arts Documentaries Film Festival and the International Golden Safran Documentary Film Festival.

He also said the film made it to the finals out of 3,030 entries at the Tirana Mediterranean Film Festival in Albania.