Turkish film on Syria wins awards

By Ayse Boztepe and S. Ahmet Aytac

ANKARA (AA) - "Purple Horizons", a Turkish-made film telling the struggle of a Syrian girl fleeing the country’s civil war, has returned with prizes from Pakistan and Italy.

It won “Best movie”, “Best foreign movie” and “Best scenario” awards in Pakistan’s 8th International Lums Film Festival and will be released in theaters in Europe and Turkey simultaneously in April 2018.

The movie has won 15 international awards so far.

Osman Subasi, the producer of movie, told the film's story to Anadolu Agency. “We want to inform … the world with cinema, which is an important tool to convey refugees’ problems,” he said.

“Since the beginning of Syrian crisis, especially in the last five years, so many boats have been sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, so many people have lost their lives.

“We think that the clear blue color of the Mediterranean disappears and transforms to purple, that’s why we called the movie ‘Purple Horizons’,” Subasi said.

"We wanted to underline the sacrifice that Turkey and its people have made for the refugees. So far, the film has won 15 awards from the international festivals it has participated in, both at home and abroad.

“I guess we reached our goal as a movie maker. We didn’t shoot this film to win the prizes; our aim was to be the voice of refugees all around the world, but the rewards are motivating us to do better things."

The cast includes Zeynep Sevil Yilmaz, Numan Cakir, Ece Ozdikici, Dilek Serbest, Adem Yilmaz and Baki Ciftci.

In the movie, Meryem, loses her family in a sinking migrant boat in the Aegean Sea near Kos Island while trying to escape the war in Syria.