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TABUTTA RÖVASATA /SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN<br />
Writer/director Derviş Zaim focuses his camera on a rarely seen side of Turkish life with the alternately darkly comic <strong>and</strong> unsettling<br />
Tabutta Rövaşata (Somersault in a Coffin). Mahsun (Ahmet Uğurlu), unemployed <strong>and</strong> homeless, steals cars to keep warm in winter<br />
<strong>and</strong> sponges off his friends for food. A sympathetic fisherman tries to help by paying Mahsun’s tab at a local café, <strong>and</strong> arranging a<br />
job for him there. But Mahsun’s attention soon drifts to Rumelihisar Castle, a tourist attraction of this very old neighborhood, <strong>and</strong><br />
the fifty peacocks that occupy the grounds. These beautiful birds symbolize prosperity, fertility, <strong>and</strong> protection from evil, but to<br />
Mahsun they symbolize all that <strong>and</strong> much more. Shot in a deft, cinema-verité style, Tabutta Rövaşata (Somersault in a Coffin) is a<br />
compassionate portrait of a man who just can’t get it right, <strong>and</strong> a gritty look at those left behind when an economy booms.<br />
FESTIVALS AND AWARDS<br />
1998 San Francisco International Film Festival (United States): SKYY Prize<br />
1997 9th Ankara International Film Festival (Turkey): Best Actor (Ahmet Uğurlu)<br />
1997 16th Istanbul International Film Festival (Turkey): F.I.P.R.E.S.C.I. (The International Federation of Film Critics) Award: Best Film in<br />
National Competition; Special Prize of the Jury<br />
1997 19th Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival (France): Critics Award; Golden Antigone – Special Mention<br />
1997 Thessaloniki Film Festival (Greece): Best Actor (Ahmet Uğurlu); Silver Alex<strong>and</strong>er Prize<br />
1997 15th Torino International Festival of Young Cinema (Italy): Audience Award; Jury Special Prize<br />
1996 33rd Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (Turkey): Best Actor (Ahmet Uğurlu); Best Editing; Best Film; Best Screenplay<br />
DERViS ZAiM<br />
Born in Gazimağusa (Famagusta), Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1964, Derviş Zaim graduated<br />
from Boğaziçi University with a degree in Business Administration in 1988 <strong>and</strong> obtained his graduate<br />
degree in Cultural Studies from the University of Warwick in 1994. He started his career with an<br />
experimental video entitled Kamerayı As (Hang the Camera), while attending a course in independent<br />
film production in London in 1991, subsequently creating a television documentary entitled Rock Around<br />
the Mosque. In 1995, Zaim’s first novel, Ares Harikalar Diyarında (Ares in Wonderl<strong>and</strong>), won the<br />
prestigious Yunus Nadi literary prize in Turkey. His directorial <strong>and</strong> screenwriting debut came in 1996<br />
with Tabutta Rövaşata (Somersault in a Coffin). Derviş Zaim made a trilogy of films themed around<br />
traditional Turkish arts consisting of Cenneti Beklerken (Waiting for Heaven), Nokta (Dot) <strong>and</strong> Gölgeler<br />
ve Suretler (Shadows <strong>and</strong> Faces).<br />
FILMOGRAPHY<br />
1996 Tabutta Rövaşata / Somersault in a Coffin<br />
2000 Filler ve Çimen / Elephants <strong>and</strong> Grass<br />
2002 Çamur / Mud<br />
2005 Cenneti Beklerken / Waiting for Heaven<br />
2008 Nokta / Dot<br />
2010 Gölgeler ve Suretler / Shadows <strong>and</strong> Faces<br />
TABUTTA RÖVASATA/SOMERSAULT IN A COFFIN 38
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