About Dry Grasses
Official Oscar© Selection—Turkey
2023 Cannes Film Festival, Winner: Best Actress, Merve Dizdar
A bored, prideful art teacher living in a remote village in Anatolia, Samet is overwhelmed by his life’s monotony. He pines for a transfer to his native Istanbul, but that dream is shattered when a prized student seems to accuse him of misconduct. Wounded and despondent, Samet seeks respite in a burgeoning friendship with attractive teacher Nuray (a stunning performance by Merve Dizdar) from a nearby school.
The latest epic from celebrated Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) is a thrilling and engrossing narrative, which explores and exposes the gap between who we are, and who we wish we were.
Introduction by Samhita Sunya (VAFF).
“Part-Chekovian comedy of yearning and male ego, and part-tragedy of a country which stymies the growth of its own citizens.” –CineVue, John Bleasdale