Winner, Jury Grand Prize, 2011
Life in a small town is akin to journeying in the middle of the steppes: the sense that “something new and different” will spring up behind every hill, but always unerringly similar, tapering, vanishing or lingering monotonous roads…
As they drive through the Anatolian countryside looking for the body of a dead man, a policeman, a prosecutor and the two men who have confessed to the killing talk and joke with each other, gradually revealing the strands of a much greater mystery.
JURY COMMENTS – CAMERON BAILEY
A masterful film. At once a satire on procedure, a reflection on crime and punishment and an anatomy of how power flows between men and between social classes, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia shows the range of Ceylan’s filmmaking skill and the depth of his human understanding. It’s a film I could watch over and over.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
