‘Yozgat Blues’ wins best Balkan film award

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun receives his award at the Sofia Film Festival.

Turkish director Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun’s second feature film, “Yozgat Blues,” has won the best Balkan film award in the Balkan competition at the 18th International Sofia Film Festival.

Competing in the same category, Lusin Dink’s “Saroyan Ülkesi” (Saroyan Country) won the best film award from Bulgarian film critics during the event, which ran from March 6 to 16.

“Yozgat Blues,” which was screened as the opening film of the third Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival right before the Sofia event, will continue on the festival circuit at the Guadalajara Film Festival, Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival and the 13rd Tiburon International Film Festival.

The film, starring Ercan Kesal, Ayça Damgacı, Tansu Biçer and Nadir Sarıbacak, also won the award for best film at the Golden Boll Film Festival in Adana last year. The film follows a music teacher, a singer and a student as they struggle to adapt to a new life in the comparable cultural wasteland of the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat.