【Tokyo International Film Festival 2017】Tokyo Grand Prix 'Grain': ASIA NEWS

【Tokyo International Film Festival 2017】Tokyo Grand Prix 'Grain'

2017年11月07日

Tokyo International Film Festival Tokyo International Film Festival 2017 Tiff2017 GRAIN Tokyo Grand Prix

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In a dystopic future, the world is beset by food shortages due to poisoned soil. Professor Erol Erin (Barr), a seed geneticist, lives in a city protected from multi-ethnic immigrants by magnetic walls. For unknown reasons, the city’s agricultural plantations have been hit by a genetic crisis. In a meeting at the headquarters of Novus Vita, the corporation which employs him, Erol hears about Cemil Akman, a fellow geneticist who wrote a thesis about the recurrent crises affecting genetically modified seeds. Erol sets out on a journey to find him. A journey that will change everything Erol knew.

'Grain' offers a cautionary tale for a world that is increasingly reliant on genetically modified food. "If you destroy one part of an ant's nest, you destroy the entire habitat," Kaplanoğlu said. "The script started from the premise of many of these things happening in the near future," Kaplanoğlu explained, "but very rapidly this world is changing. What I thought would be in the future became something more immediate," he added.

Grain's stark landscapes were shot on location in Anatolia and Germany, while some of its urban ruins were set in Detroit. Shooting in monochromatic film allowed Kaplanoğlu to maintain a uniform look despite the different shooting conditions. He also thought there would be a new perspective offered by shooting in black and white.

Speaking about the genesis of the project, Kaplanoğlu said, "Needless to say, as you all know, our world is rife with so many problems, and yet we still must live our daily lives. But the situation surrounding us is getting worse and worse. Could it be that we, the very existence of human beings, are the problem? Are we so spiritually misguided, or have we changed so much as a human race, that we've so polluted the earth? Where are our roots and where are we headed? In the film, we're somewhere in between."

Asked whether he had to endure many hardships in the getting the film made, he said, "I think it depends on what type of film you're making, as to whether you can get enough support or not. When it comes to character-driven films, it's very hard for filmmakers to get funding. In my country, there's a ministry, the Cultural and Tourism Industry, which supports 50-60 shorts and features each year, as well as a state-run broadcaster called TRT, which contributed funding to this film. We also got funding from Germany, France, Sweden and Qatar, so that's how we managed to make the film. We're at a time, in Turkish film history, where we have unprecedented opportunities for financing."

Finally, "a lot of cinema today is here for entertainment," said Barr, "and that's great. But like Kaplanoğlu's films, there's a real change of consciousness worldwide."

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