PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Mehmet Can Mertoglu, director of Album from the 2017 Lecce European Film Festival.
Mehmet Can Metroglu represents Turkish cinema in the main competition of the European Film Festival in Lecce, Italy. The young director was present at the celebration of European cinema with Album, his first feature film, which premiered at last year’s Critics’ Week in Cannes.
Album examines how adoption is a practice that Turkish society has difficulties accepting.
Despite the prominence of Turkish directors in world cinema, including Nuri Bilge Ceylan who is one of the protagonists of this year’s edition of the festival, Mertoglu reveals to us that his cinematic references and influences are more from contemporary Romanian cinema and such directors as Cristi Puiu and Corneliu Porumboiu.
ALBUM. A childless couple prepares a photo album of a fake pregnancy period – at the beach, at work, lounging at home. This way, their adopted child will eventually be able to recognize them as loving biological parents. And of course, they’ll have real documentation to share with friends and co-workers. Bahar and Cuneyt are an average middle-class couple with beliefs, dreams and preoccupations of their provincial urban environment. A child would complete their perfect lifestyle image, but adoption can be a long bureaucratic process, especially for picky parents. However, persistence and the right connections pay off. The proud couple goes all the way with the family history façade by staging snapshots in the hospital with their adopted baby boy. The earnest couple’s next step is to start a new life with their new baby. History teacher Cuneyt’s requested reassignment to a faraway city comes in quickly with his bureaucratic influence. But the couple panics when they discover…