This Thursday there will be a free screening in Maple Street of Turkish director Atalay Tasdiken’s award-winning 2009 film Mommo.
Set in rural Anatolia, Mommo (The Bogeyman) tells the story of a young boy and his even younger sister who are abandoned by their father after he remarries after the death of their mother. Left in the charge of their half-crippled grandfather Ahmet a boy of only nine years takes on the role of big brother, father, and mother to his little sister Ayse.
As far as young Ayse is concerned, Ahmet is afraid of nothing at all. But the truth is, Ahmet is still only a child and he, too, has his fears.
Atalay Tasdiken’s tale of the relationship between a brother and sister in the village portrays one of the grittier realities of Anatolia.
Born in 1964 in Beysehir, Konya, a district of central Anatolia, Atalay Tasdiken graduated as a teacher then, after finishing military service, he began working in advertising, which eventually led to film-making. He went on to direct over 300 commercials.
Mommo is his first full-length feature film and has won numerous awards including best film and the audience award in the 14th Turkish-German Film Festival in Nurnberg.
Mommo (2009, Turkey) in Turkish with English subtitles is showing at 7pm on Thursday 30 July at Yunus Emre Institute London, 10 Maple Street, Fitzrovia, London, W1T 5HA. Tel: 020 7387 3036. Admission: Free of charge.