Dry Summer
Tobacco farmer Osman Kocabas has a spring on his property, the farmers downstream rely on its waters. So great is their dismay when Osman decides to dam the spring to make the water only available to himself. His younger brother Hasan tries to talk him out of it, but Osman won’t listen. The duped farmers initiate a legal dispute, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Hasan courts young Bahar and eventually marries her. Much to the displeasure of Osman, who had set his covetous sights upon Bahar as well. When the situation around the dam gets completely out of hand, the consequences are disastrous, especially for Hasan.
In the 1962 novella Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer) Turkish writer Necati Cumalı showed what unbridled greed, shameless lust and venomous jealousy can do to a person. Metin Erksan filmed it and brought about the international breakthrough of Turkish cinema. Dry Summer won the Golden Bear in Berlin and more.
Restored in 2008 by the World cinema Foundation at Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory in collaboration with the film’s producer Ulvi Dogan and Fatih Akim. Additional elements provided by The Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Stiftung. Restoration funding provided by Armani, Cartier, Qatar Airways and Qatar Museum Authority.
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