Last Birds

Director: Erdoğan Tokatlı
Cast: Selma Güneri, Ediz Hun, Tijen Par, Ayfer Feray, Talat Gözbak, Kenan Pars, Aliye Rona, Senih Orkan, Nurhan Nur, Tuncel Kurtiz
Turkey, 1965, 90’, black & white
Turkish with French subtitles

Adapted to screen by Ayşe Şasa from her own short story, Last Birds is the directorial debut of Erdoğan Tokatlı, who employs a plain and simple narration. According to Agâh Özgüç, Last Birds is “a completely poetic cinema,” and according to Tokatlı, it is “a love story that [he] choose[s] to describe as ‘romantic reality.’” A student at a girls’ school, Ayşe meets Oğuz, an engineer who works in Anatolia. They begin a passionate love affair, but Ayşe’s family is too immersed in their own desires to care for her. They get Ayşe’s older sister Nesrin married, but when she does not meet their demands, they want to get Ayşe married.

In honour of Selma Güneri, a recipient of this year’s Cinema Honorary Awards.