Director Ferit Karahan's childhood drama "Okul Tıraşı" ("Brother's Keeper"), which took home the best film, best screenplay and best editing awards at the 58th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, was also recognized as the best film at the Chicago International Film Festival, regarded as one of the harbingers of the Oscars.
Sophomore director Karahan's second feature film "Brother's Keeper" has been doing the rounds at awards shows, picking up honors along the way. The latest of which being the Chicago International Film Festival where it received the Golden Hugo award given to the best film.
The movie, set over the course of a tense day at an isolated boarding school following a boy's desperate fight to save his sick friend in the face of a rigid bureaucracy according to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), will also be featured at the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards and the 34th European Film Awards.
The film is nominated for the best youth feature film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards which will be decided and presented on Nov. 11, in Australia, and it is up for the best film prize in the European Film Awards organized by the European Film Academy and whose award ceremony will take place on Dec. 11 this year in Berlin, Germany.
"Brother's Keeper" follows the touching story of Yusuf, a boy enrolled in a harsh boarding school where he is subject to intense pressure and discipline. We follow Yusuf as has to overcome the bureaucracy of the school, the callousness of the administration and difficult geographical conditions to get his ill friend to a doctor.
Taking inspiration from his own life story, Karahan wrote the screenplay for the film alongside Gülistan Acet and it was produced by Kanat Doğramacı. Türksoy Gölebeyi oversaw the cinematography of the film while Sercan Sezgin and Hayedeh Safiyari worked as editors.
Ekin Koç, Mahir İpek, Cansu Fırıncı, Melih Selçuk and child actor Samet Yıldız play the lead roles in the production. The other child roles were cast from the region's locals in the Bahçesaray district of eastern Turkey's Van, where the film was shot.
Italy-based Intramovies oversees the world distribution of the film.
"Brother's Keeper" was also honored with the International Film Critics Award (FIPRESCI Award) at the 71st edition of the Berlinale, along with a slew of other prizes since it first started appearing in festivals.
The film, an Asteros Film production, continues its journey across festivals around the world. It is only the second feature film of the award-winning director, who received a flurry of honors with his debut film "Cennetten Kovulmak" ("The Fall from Heaven").
The dramatic tale was captured on location in Van's Bahçesaray district in the first few months of 2019.