Nest of the buffalo

Kastamonu is the setting for a new comedy film, 'Manda Yuvas?,' in which the town faces the imposition of an HES project that threatens the whole village and its environment On the evening of Feb. 16, I was a guest at the premiere of a new Turkish comedy film called "Manda Yuvas?." It tells the story of some "poor" villagers who lose their village Çayka?? near Kastamonu due to a HES project. Then, the "hero," played by ?lyas ?lbey, comes to the village and suddenly things change. ?lbey has, together with his wife Yasemin Yalç?n, produced many comedies about Anatolian people during the late 90's and early 2000's.

It is his early 2000's feeling that he puts in his comedy; something people from Anatolia still like to watch. It is part of their romantic view on their village, combined with the hard reality of today and comedy. Mr. ?lyas' film is a protest against an HES project in the valley. This big dam will flood the whole village and its environment.

Last summer ?lbey's assistant phoned me and asked if I would be interested to play a role in a Turkish film. She told me roughly about the script and we agreed on a date. The thing is that I had always wondered about how films are shot and with this film offer, I would get the chance to experience it from the inside.

In September I flew to Kastamonu and from there we went on in a luxury minivan. It was cold, dark weather, but the rest of the scenes were filmed in nice sunlight. When I arrived in the village, all of the villagers stood up to greet me. They insisted on me drinking some tea with them. They were proud of their village and told me all about what was happening there. But at the same time, they were proudly talking about the film. They, all the villagers, were the...

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