THE FESTIVAL ON WHEELS IS GEARING UP TO MEET CINEMA FANS ONCE MORE WITH SEVERAL NEW SECTIONS COMPLEMENTING THE TRADITIONAL CORE OF THE PROGRAMME. THIS YEAR'S FESTIVAL ON WHEELS LINE-UP FEATURES AWARD-WINNING FILMS FROM WORLD CINEMA, THE LATEST WORK TO COME OUT OF TURKISH CINEMA, A DARDENNE BROTHERS RETROSPECTIVE, ZEKI DEMIRKUBUZ'S 'AMERICAN FILMS I ENVY,' PRODUCTIONS TAKING UP THE ARAB SPRING, AND SHORT FILMS FROM FINLAND, INCLUDING THE WORK OF FINNISH CINEMA MASTER, AKI KAURISMÄKI.

As the Festival on Wheels prepares to set out for the 17th year, a packed programme of award-winning films from World and Turkish cinema, classics and shorts, workshops and panel discussions awaits film fans, along with the latest publication of the Bookstand on Wheels. Organized by the Ankara Cinema Association, in association with the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism, the Festival on Wheels will begin its travels, as every year, in Ankara. Following screenings in the capital on 2-8 December, the Festival will be visiting Sinop on 9-12 December, and Izmir on 14-18 December.

WORLD CINEMA
The World Cinema section presents a selection of award-winning films fresh from the world's leading festivals. The section line-up includes Las Acacias (Pablo Giorgelli), The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius), Atmen (Karl Markovics), Courage (Greg Zglinski), The Day He Arrives (Hong Sangsoo), Le Havre (Aki Kaurismäki), Melancholia (Lars von Trier), Nana (Valérie Massadian), The Prize (Paula Markovitch) and Volcano (Runar Runarsson).

TURKEY 2011
Once again this year, Festival on Wheels audiences will be presented with a pick of the latest productions to emerge from Turkish cinema. In addition to film screenings, cinephiles will have the chance to speak with cast and crew at gala performances and during Q&A sessions. The section line-up includes: Onur Ünlü's The Extremely Tragic Story of Celal Tan and His Family (Celal Tan ve Ailesinin Aşırı Acıklı Hikayesi), which won three awards, among them Best Film, at this year's Adana Golden Boll Festival; Future Lasts Forever (Gelecek Uzun Sürer), the second film by Özcan Alper, in which he reflects on the recent history of southeast Anatolia; Nuri Bilge Ceylan actor Muzaffer Özdemir's directorial debut, Home (Yurt); What Remains (Geriye Kalan), the film that won first-time director Çiğdem Vitrinel Best Director award at Antalya; Yüksel Aksu's second feature Ecotopia (Entelköy Efeköy'e Karşı); and the Murat Saraçoğlu directed In Flame! (Yangın Var).

DARDENNE BROTHERS: CONSCIENCE AND FATE
Belgian filmmaking duo, the Dardenne Brothers, fabled for their signature documentary-style realism in portraying the 'other' Europe and the struggles of the man on the street, will be guests of the Festival on Wheels this year with a retrospective of five of their films: Rosetta, The Son, The Promise, Lorna's Silence and The Kid with a Bike.

ZEKİ DEMİRKUBUZ: AMERICAN FILMS I ENVY
This section brings audiences four American films described by prominent Turkish director Zeki Demirkubuz as "films I envy." The compilation combines Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs, one of the most powerful portrayals of violence on celluloid, with the John Huston directed title The Misfits, in which both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable made their last screen appearances, Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza, and the John Schlesinger film Midnight Cowboy.

SPRING IS REVOLUTIONARY
The Spring is Revolutionary section offers an on-the-ground perspective of the transition sparked in the Arab world in 2011 by the demand for democracy, as depicted on screen by local filmmakers. Alongside film screenings, the Festival on Wheels will be opening up the Arab Spring to debate in a panel discussion.

CLASS - CLOSE-UP
This year's addition to the now annual Bookstand on Wheels comes in the form of Class Relations: A Timeworn Representation? which explores various dimensions of the class concept in film, literature, culture and economy. Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini's La Rabbia, a previously obscure documentary made up entirely of archive footage, will also be screened as a spin-off of the 'class' theme.

TUNCEL KURTİZ'S ÉMIGRÉS
Festival on Wheels audiences this year will have the opportunity to catch Hasan the Rose (Gül Hasan), the 1979 film directed in Sweden by Tuncel Kurtiz and starring himself in the lead role. In its time, this unconventional 'guest worker' film won three awards at the Antalya Film Festival, as well as the Best Director award of the Swedish Film Institute.

CHECK OUT THESE FREE SCREENINGS!
The now classic Festival on Wheels short film screenings fall this year into three categories: Short is Sweet, a selection of innovative films from around the world; Finland in Short, a sample of Finnish work from the past 30 years; and Cowboys of the North: Aki Kaurismäki, which covers the short films of Finland's most prominent director.

Films from Belgium and France make up the Children's Films section and promise to appeal as much to adults as to the young.

PANEL DISCUSSIONS and WORKSHOPS
As well as film screenings, the 17th Festival on Wheels continues to offer workshops on cinema. Workshops will be held in parallel to panel discussions on the Festival with themes of 'The Arab Spring' and 'Class and Cinema.' Additionally, the Script Workshop: Characters, Dialogue and Acting will focus on character portrayal, dialogue and the relationship between director and screenwriter. Distinguished academic and critic Mieke Bal will come together with audiences in a master class on the theme of What Culture Silences after the screening of his latest film, A Long History of Madness, co-directed with Michelle Williams Gamaker.

For the younger generation, and specifically 8-12 year-olds, Mieke Driessen and Jenny van den Broeke will be leading an Animation with Kids Workshop in Ankara sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Embassy. Here, young participants will produce their first stop motion animation films. Again in Ankara, Ceylan Özçelik, presenter of the SkyTürk film programme 'The Most Thrilling Place', will give a workshop entitled Warning: Shooting in Progress! The Most Thrilling Place in Television, in which the finer details of making a film programme for television will be discussed.

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