Synopsis
A man and a woman seeking refuge from the world: Nihat at a remote forest fire tower, Seher in her room at a rural bus station. Hiding away from others and fighting their battle of conscience alone, they get caught by each other. Once their lives collide, they have to fight the battle before each other.
Credits
- writer & director
- pelin esmer
- producers
- tolga esmer
- nida karabol akdeniz
- pelin esmer
- co-producers
- mustafa dok
- guillaume de seille
- associate producers
- rémi roy, bénédicte thomas (arizona films, FR)
- chris breuer (bredok, DE)
- supported by
- eurimages
- t.c. kültür bakanlığı sinema genel müdürlüğü
- medienboard berlin – brandenburg
- cnc
- director of photography
- özgür eken
- editing
- ayhan ergürsel
- pelin esmer
- art director
- osman özcan
- line producer
- mustafa dok
- assistant director
- armağan lale
- second assistant director
- mutlu karadoğan
- continuity
- ülker çağatay munck-hansen
- sound recording
- kasper munck-hansen
- boom operator
- delphine régnier-cavéro
- sound editing
- marc nouyrigat
- sound mix
- frédéric théry
- foley artist
- bertrand boudaud
- focus puller
- alexander hergeledji
- gaffer
- ersin aldemir
- bestboy
- ceyhun parlak
- casting director
- ezgi baltaş
- costume
- asu kızılırmak
- make-up
- dilek zengin
- assistant art director
- samet bilen
- production manager
- hüseyin çaksın
- grip
- mustafa şahin
- making of
- selkan larlar
- post production supervisors
- selkan larlar
- stefan witzel
- post production studios
- the post republic (berlin)
- vfx artists
- héctor robles fernández (the post republic)
- jean-michael boublil (the post republic)
- alaz soytemiz
- stefan witzel
- poster design
- bala kavlakoğlu
- translations
- lucy wood
- violaine mézière
- recai hallaç
- ayça sezen
Technical Info
- original title: gözetleme kulesi
- english title: watchtower
- formats avaliable: DCP, 35mm, DVD, HDcam, Digibeta
- color: color
- running time: 100′
- original film language: turkish
- subtitles: english, french, spanish, german
- screening ratio: 1.85:1
- sound: dolby digital
- countries of production: turkey – france – germany
- year of production: 2012
Cast
- olgun simsek nihat
- nilay erdonmez seher
- menderes samancilar the boss
- kadir cermik the driver
- lacin ceylan the mother
- riza akin the father
- mehmet bozdogan the chief
Festivals / Awards
- Adana Golden Boll Film Festival / Turkey (Turkey Premiere)
Best Director Award
Best Actress Award
Best Supporting Actress Award
Best Supporting Actor Award
Best Cinematography Award - Toronto International Film Festival / Canada (World Premiere)
Official Selection - Rotterdam International Film Festival / Holland (European Premiere)
Official Selection - Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards / Turkey
- Best Film Award
- Best Director Award
- Best Actor Award
- Best Actress Award
- Best Supporting Actress Award
- Best Cinematography Award
- Best Production Design Award
- Best Film Editing Award
- Göteborg International Film Festival /Sweden
Official Selection - Nuremberg Turkey – Germany Film Festival / Germany
Best Actress Award - Texas Victoria Indie Film Festival / USA
Crossroads Award - RxSM Underground Film Expo / USA
Best Actress Award - Brasilia International Film Festival / Brazil
Best Actress Award - Romania International Film Festival / Romania
The Grand Prize - Mannheim Turkish Films Festival / Germany
Jury Prize - Fribourg International Film Festival / Switzerland
- Don Quixote Jury Prize
- Tashkent International Film Forum / Uzbekistan
Best Film – Golden Guepard - Taipei Film Festival / Taiwan
- Official Selection
Press
REVIEWS
- Indiewire, Jason Anderson, 2012 / “TIFF Capsule Review: ‘Watchtower'”
- Screendaily, Howard Feinstein, 2012 / “The Watchtower”
- Frankfurt Tipp, Sebastian Betzold, 2012 / “Watchtower”
- Kişisel Blog, Serkan Çelik, 2012 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- Beyazperde, Murat Tolga Şen, 2012 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- Haber Türk, Kerem Akça, 2012 / “Her şey bir kısır döngüden ibaret”
- Kişisel Blog, Soner Sezer, 2012 / “Gözetleme Kulesi: Yüreği olan söylesin…”
- Sol, Cüneyt Çakır, 2012 / “Gözetleme Kulesi: Küçük bir ‘çoğunluğun’ hikayesi”
- Filmloverss, Kübra Çağlayan, 2012 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- The Hollywood Reporter, Neil Young, 2013 / “Watchtower: Rotterdam Review”
- Kazete, Mehtap Doğan, 2013 / “Pelin Esmer’in Gözetleme Kulesi, kutsallaştıran aileyi sorguluyor”
- Monetafilm, Özer Akman, 2013 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- Ters Ninja, Utku Cansu, 2013 / “Vasatı aşamayan bir filmin çözümlemesi: Gözetleme Kulesi”
- The Movie Rat, Bernardo Villela, 2013 / “Thankful for World Cinema – Watchtower (2012)”
- Le Canard Enchaine, Jean-François Juillard, 2013 / “La tour de guet”
- Critikat, Benoit Smith, 2013 / “Critique: La Tour de guet, de Pelin Esmer”
- Positif, V.T., 2013 / “La Tour de guet”
- L’humanite, D.W., 2013 / “Un refuge ou s’affrontent deux consciences en crise”
- Famille Chretienne, 2013 / “La Tour de guet”
- Le Monde, 2013 / “‘La Tour de guet’ : mélo mélancolique dans la forêt turque”
- Frankfurter Rundschau, Daniel Kothenschulte, 2014 / “Es war einmal in Anatolien
- Perlentaucher, Jochen Werner, 2014
- Tip Berlin, Bert Rebhandl, 2014 / “Im Kino: “Watchtower”
- Bir Dünya Film, Hürrem Celil Erdoğan, 2015 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- Ortakoltuk, Nusret Şen, 2015 / “Gözetleme Kulesi”
- BRWC, Ben Hooper, 2018 / “Watchtower: Review”
- Popüler Sinema, Banu Bozdemir / “Bir yandan da hayat bizi gözetler!”
- Berliner Filmfestivals, 2014 / “‘Watchtower’ von Pelin Esmer”
- Stuttgarter Zeitung, Kathrin Horster / “Nur selten mal ins Dorf”
- Süddeutsche Zeitung, Doris Kuhn / “Watchtower”
- Tagesspiegel Ticket, Alissa Scheunemann / “Watchtower”
- Saarbrücker Zeitung, Nadine Schneider / “Flucht vor der Welt”
- Berliner Morgenpost
- Kino Zeit, Stefan Otto / “Watchtower”
- Fiches Cinema, Positif, L’humanite, L’express, Avoir Alire
- epd Film, Alexandra Seitz, 2021 / “Mubi: Werkschau Pelin Esmer”
- Evrensel, Dilara Bilgisel, 2021 / “Belgeselden kurguya Pelin Esmer sineması”
INTERVIEWS
- IFFR, Sietse Meijer, 2013 / “Pelin Esmer about Watchtower: ‘This is pure cinema'”
- Altyazı, Senem Aytaç, Berke Göl, 2013 / “Pelin Esmer: ‘Hayattaki Duraklama Anları'”
- YA DA, Esra Ballım, 2020 / “Sosyolojinin kamçıladığı merak duygusu, sinema yapmama büyük destek olmuştur”
THESES/ARTICLES
- Bensu Şengül, May 2017 / “From Gözetleme Kulesi to Mustang: “Women Are in Araf!”: Female Language in Turkish Cinema”
- Kaan Akın, August 2017 / “Women and Precarity in Contemporary Cinema”
- SineFilozofi, İkbal Bozkurt Avcı, 2017 / “Minor Contacts of New Turkish Cinema: Gözetleme Kulesi – Watchtower”
Gallery
Trailer