The 76th Cannes Film Festival – Photocall for the film “Kuru Otlar Ustune” (About Dry Grasses – Les herbes seches) in competition – Cannes, France, May 20, 2023. Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan and cast members Ece Bagci, Merve Dizdar, Deniz Celiloglu and Musab Ekici pose. (Reuters)
CANNES — Turkish auteur filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan returned to the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet on a particularly rainy Friday with his latest competition entry, “About Dry Grasses.”
Ceylan and his film team gathered in front of the Palais des Festivals as rain lashed the French Riviera city and puddles formed on the red carpet and the plastic sheets covering it.
Including “About Dry Grasses,” Ceylan’s films have been in the running for the Palme d’Or seven times, with only “Winter Sleep” taking the top prize in 2014.
The film follows Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), a young art teacher finishing up his compulsory service in a remote village in Turkey village who is losing hope that he will be able to leave until an encounter with another teacher, Nuray (Merve Dizdar).
Ceylan said in a statement that he wanted the film to impart the gradual decline in the personal convictions of civil servants and teachers sent to remote areas at an early age.
The Variety trade publication wrote that Ceylan digs even deeper into themes from prior works with “About Dry Grasses,” which during its 197 minutes looks at “man’s right, for better or worse, to be selfish, to be an anti-hero, to crave attention and isolation all at once, and to talk about it all night long.”