In 2007, the Ankara Cinema Association held a Short Film Script Competition within the scope of the Festival on Wheels. The aim was to provide young filmmakers with the opportunity to shoot a film with a professional cast and crew. The theme of the competition was 'Kars' since the north-eastern city was the main stop of the Festival on Wheels that year. As for the prize, this was to shoot the five best scripts in keeping with the competition theme.

There were more than 100 applications for the Tales of Kars Short Film Script Competition. The Selection Committee, made up of local filmmakers Zeki Demirkubuz, Ümit Ünal and Önder Çakar, chose Özcan Alper's Moto Guzzi, Zehra Derya Koç's Ashes (Kül), Ülkü Oktay's Zilo, Ahu Öztürk's Open Wound (Açık Yara) and Emre Akay's A Small Truth (Küçük Bir Hakikat) as the winners, and the scripts were then developed at a workshop led by Zeki Demirkubuz and Cem Yılmaz during the Festival on Wheels in November 2007.

The scripts of the five winning writers were shot as five separate short films, from which Tales of Kars unfolded as a full-length feature film.

Backed by Naif Alibeyoğlu, the former mayor of Kars, the project was shot in and around the province of Kars with a line-up of leading acting talent who volunteered their services in support of the project. Names included Ayda Aksel, Bennu Yıldırımlar, Meral Çetinkaya, Ozan Bilen, Şebnem Köstem, İskender Bağcılar, Erol Babaoğlu, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Necmettin Çobanoğlu, Ruhi Sarı, Müge Ulusoy, Begüm Birgören, Rıza Akın, Rıza Sönmez, Derya Durmaz, Birsu Demir, Berna Adıgüzel and Turgay Tanülkü. On the technical side, Tales of Kars was produced by Gezici Film with Özkan Yılmaz of İşler Prodüksiyon acting as line producer, Özgür Eken as cinematographer, Harika Uygur as cast director, Çiçek Kahraman and Ulaş Cihan Şimşek as film editors, İsmail Karadaş as sound engineer and Natali Yeres as art director. At the post-production stage Fono Film, 1000 Volt, Kalan Müzik and İşler Prodüksiyon all gave their support.

Since receiving post-production support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Tales of Kars has been selected for the 39th Rotterdam Film Festival. Rotterdam, one of Europe's oldest and most established festivals, gives emphasis to the first or second films of young filmmakers in its programme to help them gain recognition in the international arena. Tales of Kars will have its world premiere in the Bright Future section of the festival, which runs from 27 January to 7 February.

SCREENINGS

Thursday 28 January 22:45 Cl4

Friday 29 January 14.30 CI6

Friday 5 February 10.00 CI4

Press & Industry Screening

Saturday 30 January 9:30 CI3