2nd Annual Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival Announces Lineup

The LA Turkish Film Festival has announced today their final slate of four feature films that will screen at their second annual festival at Hollywood's Egyptian Theater. The festival opens on Thursday, February 28th at 7:00pm with the screening of Yilmaz Erdogan's THE BUTTERFLY'S DREAM (Kelebegin Ruyasi), which is the tale of two poets who fall in love with the same woman. Starting the following evening, a new feature from Turkish filmmakers will screen nightly at the Egyptian, followed by a Q & A that will be moderated by industry professionals. The festival concludes on March 3rd.

The LA Turkish Film Festival will also screen a series of nine shorts in a competition that was programmed by film critic and NPR's The Treatment host Elvis Mitchell. This competition has been designed to showcase up and coming Turkish filmmakers, some of whom have never screened their work outside of Turkey. The nine finalists will be flown to Hollywood for their festival screening.

This year's festival jury is composed of international and American veterans of the film industry including screenwriter and Vice President of the Writers Guild of America West Howard A. Rodman, Academy Award Foreign Language Film Committee Co-Chair Ron Yerxa, director Rob Nilsson, actress Belcim Bilgin and Semih Kaplanoglu, the Jury President and the director of Bal, winner of the Golden Bear at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.

In addition to THE BUTTERFLY'S DREAM, three additional features have been programmed for the weekend festival:

On Friday March 1st at 7:30pm will be MOLD (Kuf), from writer/director Ali Aydin. MOLD is the story of a lonely father petitioning authorities for information on the son who disappeared 18 years earlier. The director won the Best First Feature Award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

On Saturday, March 2nd at 8:00pm BEYOND THE HILL (Tepenin Ardi) from writer/director Emin Alper will be the third feature screened at the festival. The film is a Western parable about a family who confronts nomads trying to infringe on their Anatolian farm land. The film was the winner of the Caligari prize at the 2012 Berlinale and was also the winner for Best Feature at the 2012 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Finally, INSIDE (Yeralti), from writer/director Zeki Demirkubuz, is a stylistic adaptation of Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and will screen on Sunday, March 3rd at 5:00pm. The film was the winner of multiple awards at the 2012 Istanbul Film Festival, including Best Director, as well as the Best Feature Film Asia/Africa at the 2012 Dubai Film Festival.

Please note that THE BUTTERFLY'S DREAM will have one additional screening on March 2nd at 1:30pm.

See the festival's English-language website for more information on the schedule, shorts competition and to purchase tickets to all screenings: http://www.latff.org

About the Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival:

Now in their second celebratory year, the Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival (LATFF) is a new and important medium that voices the fresh and productive recent developments in Turkish cinema. The festival prides itself on being a place where internationally awarded Turkish filmmakers meet a new generation of young directors, with the support of many names from the American film industry.

For more information on the festival and for ticket information please visit http://www.latff.org