Award-winning director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has been the guest of honor at the Turkish Film Week, held in Rome, the capital of Italy.

The "Turkish Film Week," organized by Yunus Emre Institute in Rome with support from the Directorate General of Cinema of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has kicked off with the screening of the director's film "Ahlat Ağacı" (Wild Pear Tree).

The opening ceremony, conducted at Casa del Cinema on November 22, 2019, was attended by Ceylan, Institute President Prof. Dr. Şeref Ateş, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to Rome Murat Salin Esenli and numerous Turkish and Italian moviegoers.

"Turkish Cinema is one of our major cultural areas."

Institute President Prof. Dr. Ateş delivered a keynote speech ahead of the screening, drawing attention to the fact that the Turkish soap operas have recently become very popular in many countries around the world as the Turkish cinema emerged as one of major cultural areas. Ateş indicated that the different events held by the Institute in 30 countries to promote Turkish cinema made it possible to have direct contact with more than 100,000 people.

"If you have an unfamiliar style, you will certainly be noticed by people."

Following the red carpet walk and cocktail, Ceylan's latest film "Ahlat Ağacı" was screened. After the screening, Ceylan gave an interview for Turkish and Italian moviegoers.

Ceylan answered questions from the audience and commented on how he decided to shoot the film "Ahlat Ağacı." He noted that he created the film characters with inspiration from the people he knew, and the father in the film was actually inspired by his own father. "This [character] actually looks like my own father," he said.

Pointing out that there were quotations from Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Anton Chekhov in his film "Kış Uykusu" (Winter Sleep), Ceylan stated his stories emerged through interaction in itself without known the end. "If you have an unfamiliar style, you will certainly be noticed by people," he said.

"The best way to learn film-making is to make mistakes."

The award-winning director Nuri Bilge Ceylan have met the students from Officina Della Arti Pier Paolo Pasoloni Cinema School as part of the event and talked about his professional experience.

Ceylan told the students that his introduction to art happened thanks to a photography book given to him as a gift on his 12th birthday. Although he had special feelings about photography, he said that cinematography has a more powerful narrative power than photography.

The award-winning director indicated that he was inspired by Roman Polanski's autobiography to seek a career in the film-making industry and he learned to how to shoot films in his first short film "Koza" (Cocoon). "The best way to learn film-making is to make mistakes. None of the books I had read ahead of shooting my first film proved useful, but the mistakes I had made at the film set taught me everything," he said.

A total of seven award-winning films will be screened as part of the event in Rome between October 22 and 24.