BURNING DAYS

Emre (Selahattin Paşalı), a young, principled public prosecutor, is transferred to the small Anatolian town of Yanıklar. The town suffers from water shortages, and the mayor rules with a heavy hand. Emre quickly discovers that corruption runs through every institution. When a young Romani woman is abused, he has the mayor’s son arrested – and becomes a target himself: compromising photographs surface, a rumour of an affair with newspaperman Murat (Ekin Koç) circulates in the town, and the pressure from local power-holders grows. “Burning Days” by Emin Alper (Turkey, 2022) shows a man who believes in his legal system, in a town where everyone has their own truth.

Turkish director Emin Alper tells this as a thriller, half crime film, half western, with images of a parched landscape in which heat and rumour share the same colour. The film is about water as an instrument of power, about populism and masculinity – and, barely spoken aloud, about the recurring homophobia of the Turkish provinces. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section in Cannes in 2022; nine awards followed at the Antalya festival, and the European Film Award for editing. “Burning Days” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2022 in the Berlinale World Cinema Fund section.

Shown at the 2022 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2022 · Film Archive