Mehmet Can Mertoglu – Album #fceLecce

April 9, 2017

Mehmet Can Mertoglu - Album #fceLecce fredfilmradio

Podcast | Download

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…

Written by: fredfilmradio

Album Chiara Nicoletti Mehmet Can Mertoglu

Guest

Mehmet Can Mertoglu

Film

Album

Festival

Lecce European Film Festival

Rate it

Channel posts

News

Festival de Cannes

The 78th Festival de Cannes Posters Pay Tribute to “A Man and a Woman”

April 22, 2025

For the first time in its history, the Cannes Film Festival reveals two official posters for its 78th edition, inspired by Claude Lelouch’s 1966 Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece A Man and a Woman.

CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 27: Alice Rohrwacher attends the "La Chimera" photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival at Palais des Festivals on May 27, 2023 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

News

Festival de Cannes

Alice Rohrwacher Named President of the Caméra d’Or Jury at Cannes 2025

April 18, 2025

Alice Rohrwacher has been appointed President of the Caméra d’or Jury at Cannes 2025. Known for her poetic and visionary cinema, Rohrwacher will award the best first feature at the festival’s closing ceremony on May 24.