External Link External Link

Five sisters, driven by the same desire for freedom, rebel against the limitations imposed upon them.

Synopsis

It's the beginning of summer. In a village in northern Turkey, Lale and her four sisters return home from school, innocently playing with a group of boys. The supposed debauchery of their games causes a scandal with unforeseen consequences. The family home progressively transforms into a prison, practical household chores replace schoolwork, and marriages start being arranged. The five sisters, driven by the same desire for freedom, rebel against the limitations imposed upon them.

2016 Academy Award Nominee, Best Foreign Language Film

Courtesy of Curzon Artificial Eye

“Beautiful and horrifying at the same time.” - Liesl Gerntholtz, executive director, Women's Rights Division

Credits

Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Director

Born in Ankara in 1978, Deniz Gamze Ergüven had a very cosmopolitan upbringing, between France, Turkey and the United States. A compulsive cinephile, she studied directing in Paris, after a BA in literature and an MA in African History at Johannesburg. Her graduation film, Bir Damla Su (Une goutte d'eau), screened at the Cannes Festival Cinefondation and won a Leopards of Tomorrow award at the Locarno Festival. Opening with a shot of a veiled woman blowing a bubble with chewing gum, the 19-minute short tells the story of a young Turkish woman (played by Deniz herself) rebelling against the patriarchal attitudes and authoritarianism of the men in her community. The story of an emancipation, Mustang is a powerful, female take on contemporary Turkey. Deniz Gamze Ergüven shot it around Inebolu in northern Turkey, 600 kilometers from Istanbul.