Turkish film directors successful abroad, not at home

Turkish directors who are famous abroad garner considerably less attention in their home country, as shown the total gross and the number of cinema goers, according to Box Office, an online movie data base.

Fatih Akin, Ferzan Ozpetek and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the most famous directors of Turkish cinema, have garnered many awards at prestigious film festivals like Cannes, but they don't achieve the same success in their own country.

"Turkish audience likes to watch Hollywood movies instead of art movies," Baris Erdogan, a Turkish scriptwriter said. "These three directors don't strike Turkish people's fancy and they don't make movies for the popular culture. Their movies appeal to a specific audience."

The most watched director is Nuri Bilge Ceylan. One of his movies, "Iklimler" (Climates) for example, made $120,000 total gross in Turkey -- but double that in France, which has a population significantly smaller than that of Turkey. Over the years, Ceylan became more famous than before and broke his own record with "Kis Uykusu" (Winter Sleep). The movie was watched by 254,000 people in Turkey and made $1.5 million total gross.

Perhaps the unluckiest Turkish director is Ferzan Ozpetek, who is famous in Italy but far less so at home. Ozpetek has directed many movies since 1999 and, more's the pity, his movie "Harem Suare," which was directed by him that same year, is still his most-watched movie. That movie was watched by 224,000 people. But his most recent movie, "Magnifica presenza" (A Magnificent Haunting) was watched by only 166,000 Turkish cinema-goers. That movie, which was shot in Italy, grossed $500,000 in Turkey but in Italy it grossed $6 million -- fully 12 times what it brought in Ozpetek's home country.

Fatih Akin, who is popular in Europe and Germany, always casts Turkish actress and actors in his movies. Akin also shares Turkish culture with other people in his movies. His last movie, "Der Müll im Garten Eden" (Garbage in the Garden of Eden) was seen by only 6,000 cinema-goers in Turkey.

His famous movie, "Soul Kitchen," grossed $400,000 in Turkey. In Germany, it grossed $10 million.

Akin is now in the process of directing a movie named "The Cut."

These three directors' movies are also attention-grabbing with their IMDB, or Internet Movie Database, ratings. Akin's "Soul Kitchen" got 7.3, Ozpetek's "La Finestra Di Fronte" (Facing Windows) got 7.4 and Ceylan's "Winter Sleep" got 9.4 points out of ten.