Free London screening of award-winning Turkish bromance Our Grand Despair

CULTURE / FILM

Contrary to what the title of the film suggests, this is a fairly light Turkish comedy-drama about two thirty-something friends who fall in love with the same girl.

Adapted from Barış Bıçakçı’s novel of the same name, the love triangle is set in snowy Ankara. Best friends since high school, the bespectacled Ender (İlker Aksum) and gentle giant Çetin (Fatih Al) are flatmates living in Ender’s spacious downtown pad. Life is going great until their friend, Fikret (Taner Birsel), over from Germany on holiday, is involved in a car crash, which kills his parents and injures him.

After the funeral, Fikret informs his friends that he has to return to Germany for treatment and asks them to take care of his younger sister, Ankara University student Nihal (Güneş Sayın), who is highly traumatised by the loss of her parents. Doing the decent thing, the chaps say yes, only to find their bachelor lifestyle is now at risk with the permanent presence of a woman. More significantly, before long the two friends find they are both falling in love with the beautiful and charming young woman, which threatens to tear apart their bromance.

Director Seyfi Teoman. Photo: Can Burak

Released in 2011, Our Grand Despair / Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz is directed by Seyfi Teoman, who tragically died in a motorbike accident in 2012. The talented young Turkish director shot to fame in 2008 with his award-winning debut feature film Summer Book / Tatil Kitabı.

While not receiving the same level of critical acclaim as his debut film, Teoman’s follow-up feature Our Grand Despair won the Best Film and Critics Award in the Turkish/German category at the Nuremberg Film Festival, and picked up three awards, including Best Cinematography and the People’s Choice, at the Istanbul Film Festival in 2011.

You can see Teoman’s final film for free at the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Centre in London on Tuesday evening.

See the trailer for Our Grand Despair / Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz here

Film: Our Grand Despair / Bizim Buyuk Caresizligimiz

   Directed by: Seyfi Teoman

   Screenplay by: Seyfi Teoman & Barış Bıçakçı

   Cast:  İlker Aksum, Fatih Al, Güneş Sayın 

Date: Tuesday 25 August 2015

Start time: 7pm

Duration: 102 minutes

Language: Turkish with English subtitles

Venue address:  Yunus Emre Institute, 10 Maple Street, London W1T 5HA

Admission: Free

More info: Telephone: 0207 387 30 36 / Email: londra@yee.org.tr