- The film by the Turkish filmmaker arrives in the Gran-Canarian capital after obtaining the 2024 Special Jury Prize – Venice Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival
- Firatoglu, an ex-lawyer, staked everything to make his debut film, involving his family, friends and his own place of origin
The odyssey that means going back to work in the countryside (Siverek) after having lost everything in the city (Smyrna). Murat Firatoglu has made a major debut as an independent filmmaker by sustaining this premise in his One of Those Days When Hemme Dies (2024, Turkey, 83 min.), now competing in the Official Section of the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival. The latest winner of the Special Jury Prize – Venice Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival, Firatoglu turned his story into an example of pacing on screen. His film takes place in a single day and depicts the conflict between Hemme, a foreman, and one of his workers, who haven’t been paid yet.
The Turkish filmmaker, a lawyer reconverted to film director, is also the lead actor of One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, as well as its main producer. In his film, he focuses on an extreme situation in which his character’s reaction seems to be absolutely conditioned by frustration and anger. Firatoglu staked everything to make his story come true, involving his family and friends in the filming, and adjusting his original idea to the resources he was able to get throughout the process. And, in the end, he managed to create a bold work of independent filmmaking between the urban and the rural.
“One of the things I’ve always been shocked with is how a worker who is mistreated or abused have to keep working at the same place,” the filmmaker said to the media during the press conference held this Friday, May 2, at the Alfredo Kraus Auditorium. His film indulges viewers with several images of great aesthetic beauty: the director put a lot of effort into turning the tomato harvesting of his village into “a visual festival”, thus creating one of the film’s greatest moments.
Firatoglu revealed that, during his career as a lawyer, he has dealt with a lot of people whose stories have left a mark on his film. In fact, in One of Those Days When Hemme Dies, the main character is controlled by a feeling of urgency—paying of his debt—in a small place “where everyone knows each other.” And where the environment itself “eventually calms him down.” “That’s something I did a little bit on purpose,” the filmmaker pointed out, “there are different paces in the film.”
His main character, “as it happens in these kinds of narratives, changes throughout the story.” Everything happens in a single day and around the foretold death of his boss Hemme. His resolution? Firatoglu said that “I’ve never had the intention of cheating the audience” with some plot twists. “I wrote the ending,” he emphasized, “following my instincts and how I thought the movie’s final version should be.”
The filmmaker has been somewhat overwhelmed by the impact of his work, which began “naturally, just as I had thought it.” Thus, he said that after he started travelling the festival circuit with his film, “I’m asked about a series of details I haven’t really thought of before. It’s a strange feeling.”
The filmmaker also opened up and acknowledged that, despite his professional past, “I’m not an expert when it comes to searching for funds,” so the process to translate his idea onto the screen was “hard.” In fact, since “I already anticipated it,” he was able to overcome it by turning to “my family and friends.” And asking for a loan at the bank as well. Despite these obstacles, he reckons he has “recovered half of the funding.” This seems to matter a lot in regards to his future as a filmmaker, because “I already have my second film in my head.” He thinks that “I’ll be with it in June, and I’ll repeat more or less the same financial path. I’ll take another shot at it!”
Firatoglu declared himself to be, above all, a devotee of cinema as a viewer, before showing his gratitude for the award he received at Venice. “Because that made people know more about me and my film and, among other things, allowed me to be here.”
One of Those Days When Hemme Dies will be screened again the last day of the Festival (Sunday, May 4) at 6 p.m. at Cine Yelmo Las Arenas Screen 6.
Partners, sponsors and collaborators of the 24 FICLPGC
The Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival, organized by the Culture area of the Gran-Canarian capital’s City Council through Promoción de la Ciudad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, has received public assistance by the ICAA [Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts], the Visitors’ Program for the Internationalization of Spanish Culture (PICE), of the Spanish Public Agency for Cultural Action (AC/E), as well as public support from Promotur Turismo Islas Canarias.
Among the Festival’s collaborators we may find Fundación Auditorio Teatro, Cines Yelmo, Las Arenas Shopping Center and Hotel Cristina by Tigotan, places which also function as venues or hold activities of the film event; as well as other institutions and companies such as Sagulpa, Toyota, Royal Bliss, Fuze Tea, Coca Cola, Sholeo Lodge, Audiovisuales Canarias, Music Library &SFX, Blackout Films and International Bach Festival. Likewise, its market, MECAS, has been possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Gran Canaria Film Commission-Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria and the support of Proexca.
The University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the Mid Atlantic University, Digital 104, the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, the Association of Women Filmmakers and Audiovisual Media CIMA, the Cartagena International Film Festival, the Gijón International Film Festival, the Barcelona Independent Film Festival, the Tres Puertos Laboratory, Barcelona’s ESCAC, and Very Good Script, Freak World and Fimucité are also collaborators.
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