Life
Turkey – Bulgaria / Fiction / 193’ / Color / 2023
Hicran runs away from home, because she was forced to get engaged by her father. Thinking that Hicran does not want her, Rıza does not care much about this situation, however he starts to get upset with her and decides to confront her. He goes to Istanbul after his fiancée, whom he has only seen once, and begins a long and big search.
Director: Zeki Demirkubuz
Script: Zeki Demirkubuz
Director of Photography: Cevahir Şahin, Kürşat Üresin
Producer: Zeki Demirkubuz, Rossitsa Valkanova
Editing: Zeki Demirkubuz
Sound: Boris Trayanov, Momchil Bozhkov, Boris Trayanov, Mustafa Durma, Leith Ridley
Cast: Miray Daner, Burak Dakak, Cem Davran, Umut Kurt, Melis Birkan, Osman Alkaş, Ozan Dağara, Doğu Demirkol, Kayhan Açıkgöz, Muttalip Müjdeci
Biography
Born in Isparta in 1964, Demirbukuz studied Communications at Istanbul University Faculty of Communications before working as assistant director for various directors until making Block-C (C Blok, 1994), his first feature film. After Block-C, Demirkubuz continued to work as an auteur and inde- pendent filmmaker writing his own original screenplays. Film critics and international audiences noticed Demirkubuz with his second film, Inno- cence (Masumiyet, 1997) which was screened at Venice Film Festival and The Third Page (Üçüncü Sayfa, 1999) which was screened at several festi- vals in Turkey and Europe, including Locarno and Rotterdam. Demirkubuz started to work on his trilogy called “Tales of Darkness.” The first two parts of the trilogy Fate (Yazgı, 2001) and Confession (Itiraf, 2001) were screened at Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2002. The Waiting Room (Bekleme Odası, 2003) in which Demirkubuz also played the leading role, concluded the trilogy. Destiny (Kader, 2006), the prequel to Innocence, has been followed by Envy (Kıskanmak, 2009), Inside (Yeraltı, 2012), Nau- sea (Bulantı, 2015). He completed his film Ember (Kor, 2016), which fol- lowed his film Life (Hayat, 2023).His ret- rospectives have been shown at the Viennnale, Boston Museum of Art, Toronto Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, University of Michigan, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Brussels Cinematheque, and New Horizons Film Festival, Cluj Film Festival among others.
Filmography
Block-C (1994)
Innocence (1997)
The Third Page (1999)
Fate (2001)
Confession (2001)
The Waiting Room (2003)
Envy (2006)
Destiny (2009)
Inside (2012)
Nausea (2015)
Ember (2016)
Life (2023)
Festivals Attended
Thessaloniki Film Festival
Sofia Film Festival
Rotterdam Film Festival
Palm Springs Film Festival
CINEMED Montpellier Film Festival
Awards
Best Feature Film, Grand Jury Prize - Nuremberg Film Festival
Best Film - Malta Mediterranean Film Festival
Best Supporting Actor (Cem Davran) - Cinema Writers Association (SİYAD) Awards
Most Successful Supporting Actor of the Year (Cem Davran) - Sadri Alışık Theatre and Cinema Actor Awards