Festival On Wheels Marks 21St Year With Sold Out Screenings

Turkey's annual traveling art-house cinema extravaganza Festival on Wheels set out on its 21st annual journey on Thursday in Ankara with sold-out screenings of 10 of the films in its lineup, organizers announced on Friday.

On the first day that they went on sale, 67 percent of all festival tickets were sold, the Ankara Cinema Association (ASD) said in a press release.

The documentary features “The Emperor's New Clothes” and “Requiem for the American Dream,” Paolo Sorrentino's “Youth,” the 1925 silent film “Varieté” (Variety), “Extraordinary Tales,” an animated retelling of Edgar Allan Poe stories and Turkish director Emin Alper's “Abluka” (Frenzy) were among the films whose tickets sold out on the first day, the ASD said.

The festival opened with a screening of Turkish director Tolga Karaçelik's “Sarmaşık” (Ivy), which had its world premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Karaçelik was in attendance at Thursday's screening at Çankaya Municipality's Contemporary Arts Center, where he also answered festival-goers' questions in a Q&A session following the film.

Female director Emine Emel Balcı will be the program's next guest when she attends a screening of her debut feature “Nefesim Kesilene Kadar” (Until I Lose my Breath) on Saturday at the Contemporary Arts Center. Balcı will be joined by her director of photography Murat Tuncel in a Q&A session after the screening.

Alper will present his critically acclaimed “Abluka” on Monday, while auteur Zeki Demirkubuz will be attending a Dec. 1 screening of his latest drama, “Bulantı” (Nausea).

The Ankara leg of Festival on Wheels continues until Dec. 2. (Cihan/Today's Zaman)