theartsdesk in Artvin: A Film Festival on Wheels

Young Turks take the cinema to far-flung places

by Sheila JohnstonSunday, 20 December 2009

Artvin, North East Turkey, the location for this year's Film Festival on WheelsSheila Johnston

"Where?" you ask. In the extreme north-east of Turkey, wedged in between the Black Sea, the Georgian and Armenian borders and the snow-capped Pontic Mountains, the hardscrabble town of Artvin clings tenaciously to a near-vertical hillside. Population: 25,000. Hotels: a handful, all rustic. Distance from the small coastal airport of Trabzon: three hours up a precipitous road. Nearest cinema: 50 miles. In short, the perfect spot for an international film festival.

Explore topics

Share this article

The future of Arts Journalism

You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!

We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d

And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

more Film

Blu-ray: Hitchcock - The Beginning A box set shows how Alfred Hitchcock embraced the sound revolution – pathologies intact

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl review - an old foe returns Stop-motion animation on an epic scale

Blu-ray: Three Wishes for Cinderella Witty, engaging Czech fairy tale with an appealingly feisty heroine

Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes review - a Hollywood legend, warts and all A documentary portrait of Bogie toes the official line but still does him justice

Sujo review - cartels through another lens A surprisingly subtle narco pic from Mexico

Queer review - Daniel Craig meets William Burroughs Luca Guadagnino's film is crazy but it just might work

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review - a middling return to Middle-earth JRR Tolkien gets the anime treatment

The Commander review - the good Italian Chivalrous valour at sea from a real World War Two hero

Nocturnes review - the sounds of the rainforest transport you a remote region of the Himalayas Mansi spends her nights counting moths in North East India

theartsdesk Q&A: filmmakers Guy Maddin, Evan and Galen Johnson on 'Rumours' Archetype-bending auteur Maddin and co. discuss their new film's starry, absurd G7, autobiography and artifice

Merchant Ivory review - fascinating documentary about the director and producer's long partnership Stephen Soucy examines Ismael Merchant and James Ivory's complicated relationship with input from many stars

Grand Theft Hamlet review - intriguing documentary about Shakespeare as multi-player shooter game How two jobless actors created a novel Hamlet inside the game Grand Theft Auto

Follow @theartsdesk