Pacifica Presents Oscar Contender 'I Saw the Sun'

Pacifica Presents Oscar Contender 'I Saw the Sun'

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- The Pacifica Institute and Westwood Productions will host a special screening in Hollywood of "I Saw the Sun" (Gunesi Gordum), this year's submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar from Turkey.

The film's director Mahzun Kirmizigul will make his only LA appearance at the screening which will take place Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009 at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood at 7:00 p.m. PT. "I Saw the Sun" is one of 65 entries in the Foreign Language category for the awards given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on March 7, 2010.

"I Saw the Sun" tells the story of the Altun family torn apart by a series of tragedies as it faces emigration from a village in eastern Turkey to the city of Istanbul. Kirmizigul, who is a former singer and TV star, wrote and directed the film, and also stars in it as a husband and father longing for a son, after five daughters.

In Turkey, the film received great attention because of its conciliatory look at the country's on-going Kurdish conflict, while also delving into gender issues. On the international arena, "I Saw the Sun" also picked up an award at the 2009 Tokyo International Film Festival.

"It is a film that condemns discrimination and argues that war, fighting and contempt for anyone unlike ourselves is the problem," said Kirmizigul.

In 2007, Kirmizigul got acclaim for his first film "White Angel" ("Beyaz Melek") about an ailing old man who runs away from his family. It won the Best Foreign Language and Best Director awards at The Houston International Film Festival.

The Pacifica Institute is a Los Angeles-based non-profit organization that aims at promoting inter-cultural dialogue. The official web site for the movie is www.gunesigordum.com.

Source: Pacifica Institute

CONTACT: Elif Cercel of Pacifica Institute, +1-310-208-7290,
info@pacificainstitute.org

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