Friday, April 13

Taksim Hold’em from the section “Out of Competition” within “Turkish Cinema” was screened at Beyoğlu Sineması, with the participation of Michael Önder and the film crew. The director said that the starting point of the story was the Gezi incidents of 2013, and added: “I focused on my contradictions, fears, how I viewed my friends, and my relationship with Gezi. I began to write different things without knowing what would happen next. I thought that what I write about something of such great volume would be limited. That’s why I returned to my own stories and the stories of those around me. I wanted the feeling of it to remain like a photograph.” The film will be released on April 27, and the actor Kenan Ece who shared that he started the preparations for the film by playing poker talked about the shooting process: “I learned how to play poker, but also we created a language among ourselves. We rehearsed scenes at our homes together. So when we began to shoot at the set, we were able to act the scenes in a natural way.” Director Önder said that he was very much satisfied with the actors’ performances, and added: “The actors took the script to a different level. It was a much better performance than I expected.”

Fotoğraf: Benek Özmez