Winner, Achievement in Directing, 2014
Set in remote Cappadocia, Central Anatolia, Winter Sleep focuses on a half-empty small village in the wintry off-season. The film follows a local celebrity, Aydin, a retired actor who runs a small hotel with his wife, writes a column for the local newspaper, and is toying with the idea of producing a book on Turkish theatre. Even so, like all the villagers, Aydin has time on his hands. Through Aydin’s interactions with his wife, his recently divorced sister, and a family of locals who are tenants of one of his properties, we see a smug man brought face-to-face with who and what he truly is.