Barbaros Gökdemir wrote: Our journey to the gentle films of summer and the Academy Awards on the horizon

Last week, I reviewed the big-budget blockbusters released during the summer. This week, I want to devote my time to what I consider to be the more "gentle" and "artistic" films of the season.

Frankly, we're having a decent summer season, with a wide range of films to suit all tastes. As autumn approaches, eagerly anticipated new films from ambitious directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, and Benny Safdie will be released. We'll be covering those films in due course.

Another piece of cinema news we received this week that made us happy was that " One of the Days Hemme Died, " directed by Murat Fıratoğlu and winner of the Orizzonti Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last year, was selected by the General Directorate of Cinema as a candidate for the Best International Film category at the 98th Academy Awards. At the end of this article, I'll briefly discuss the film and my thoughts on the nomination.

I wish everyone a pleasant viewing.

The Materialists is one of the must-see films of summer 2025. South Korean-Canadian director Celine Song, who garnered attention with her debut film Past Lives, is now back with a new take on the romantic comedy genre. Frankly, I was quite curious about what kind of second film the director would make and how she would direct her career. Past Lives served as a precursor to the director's impressive prose, fine writing, and profound cinema. However, it also possessed a somewhat reserved, quiet, and reserved nature, which wasn't for every audience.

But with The Materialists , Song not only transcends the "artistic" language of her first film but also capitalizes on the advantages of her chosen genre, opening the door to a "popular" cinema that can appeal to a much broader audience. I believe the director is already being interpreted in Hollywood circles as a new, modern "Nora Ephron."

The film follows Lucy (Dakota Johnson), who works at a luxury matchmaking agency in New York. According to her, there are mathematical formulas for matching couples: age, social standing, economic status, career, education, and physical characteristics determine a person's "value" in the dating world. Clients express their demands based on these criteria; matches are made using information that makes sense on paper but has little real-world relevance. Lucy begins to question this equation and rethink her own beliefs after experiencing both a dilemma in her love life and an unfortunate incident with a client.

Watching this stylish, elegant, and funny film, you can't help but think of previous works that danced in similar genres, like When Harry Met Sally , Sleepless in Seattle , and Sex and the City . But the director never relies on clichés or hides behind the genre; instead, he creates a modern romantic comedy that reinterprets the genre.

Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans are doing a fantastic job, taking a break from the over-the-top Marvel movies and bringing these delicately written characters to life.

This isn't a zombie movie. I repeat, this isn't a zombie movie. Don't get me wrong, if you're looking to watch a zombie movie and experience the horror genre, your expectations are fully met. However, this film goes far beyond its promise; it's a family drama hidden within the genre, a story of growth and loss.

Master British director Danny Boyle reunites with writer Alex Garland and cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle for the third installment of the series. Just as they breathed new life into the genre in 2002 with their first film, 28 Days Later , using semi-amateur digital cameras, they now create an unparalleled visual feast with modified iPhones, drones, and action cameras. The film's cinematography is truly unlike anything we've seen before.

As the title suggests, the film focuses on the aftermath of the initial virus outbreak, 28 years after the initial outbreak. The world has largely been cured, but England has become a quarantine zone for the zombie survivors, cutting off the rest of the world. The film centers on a small island village connected to England by a narrow strip of land across the sea. The village is a self-sufficient, self-sufficient, and warm community, isolated from the outside world, responsible for its own safety, yet lacking in technology. A father and his 12-year-old son travel to England to train him against zombies. Upon their return, the boy learns untold truths about his father and realizes that he must take matters into his own hands to help his ailing mother recover.

In the final quarter of the film, Ralph Fiennes brings the film to life with his unique character, bringing the story to its climax. With its distinct look, incredibly tense zombie scenes, and unexpectedly emotional moments, 28 Years Later offers an unexpected experience.

I hadn't followed Boyle's cinema for a long time; I realized I was missing a lot.

This film, from actress, screenwriter, and director Eva Viktor, was one of the most talked-about films at this year's Sundance Film Festival. While I'm not entirely certain, this poignant drama was the only film I saw from this year's Sundance selection to be released in the US. In this respect, it ranks among the year's standout independent films.

The director wears multiple hats in this debut film: he wrote the script and plays the lead character. We enter the life of Agnes, a graduate student at the Faculty of Creative Writing. When a close friend from the faculty visits her, we become immersed in the trauma in Agnes's life through a story arc that moves back and forth in time and encompasses various threads. Throughout the film, we watch, using calm, gentle, yet powerful language, as she deals with this trauma, whether she overcomes it, and how she attempts to overcome it.

Watching the film feels like reading a book. On the big screen, the director's simple language, carefully chosen words, paragraphs, chapter headings, and, most importantly, the dialogue, written in pencil, help us experience a story that is both literary and deeply real. The film frequently references Nabokov's famous book, Lolita . It's also worth checking out the book.

One of the Days Hemme Died and the Film's Academy Journey:

First of all, I'd like to congratulate the director and producers for creating this successful film. I enjoyed watching it in theaters last winter.

Briefly, I would like to express my thoughts on the Academy nomination.

I believe that our film, which won an award at the Venice Film Festival last year, was chosen as a candidate. While international productions like The Parasite (2019) and Anatomy of a Fall (2023) have won awards in recent years, the Academy continues to prioritize American audiences and productions. In this respect, I believe that a film that has successfully won an award at one of the five major film festivals has fulfilled a crucial prerequisite for being eligible for the Academy Awards.

However, when I look from the outside, I also see that our film is at a disadvantage in three respects.

First, the film won an award at Venice last year, not this year. As you know, Cannes has just concluded, and this year's Toronto and Venice Film Festivals are on the horizon. Therefore , filmmakers' job won't be easy with the fresh new films hitting the festival stage this year.

The second drawback—and this is more significant, in my opinion—is that, as far as I can see from the outside, the film doesn't currently have a major American distributor. Where will American audiences, and more importantly, Academy members, see this film?

A distributor or studio that understands America, the American audience, the Academy, and how to run a campaign is essential. Perhaps the film already has an American distributor, but it hasn't been announced yet. I don't know.

A quick side note: It's important to note that creating buzz in the US is a costly endeavor. For example, last year's production budget for the film Anora , which won numerous Academy Awards, was $6 million. Its distributor, Neon, spent a total of $18 million on the film for its Oscar marketing campaign.

In this respect, the American side of the film needs to believe in the film enough to contribute significantly financially.

The third shortcoming I see is the concern about whether American audiences will be interested in this film and whether they will see anything of themselves in it.

The marketing campaign for the Academy Awards can be compared to a political election campaign. Creating the agenda is essential. It requires effective media management, engaging the right audiences across all four corners, and capturing the attention of a society like America, which is inherently quite conservative in its entertainment culture. This often happens through topics that directly affect their lives and are part of daily politics and the political landscape.

For example, the North Macedonian film Honeyland , which received an Academy Award nomination in 2019, highlighted the climate crisis and environmental issues, a topic closely followed by American politics and the American public. Last year, the film No Other Land, which explored the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, also addressed a topic American audiences follow daily on television and that has an impact on voting behavior in American elections.

Of course, I don't mean to suggest that success in the Academy requires addressing political issues that American audiences are interested in. However, knowing Americans, I think it needs to be a topic that resonates with them and that they can empathize with.

In any case, I'm delighted that the film was nominated. Good luck.