With “Inner Landscapes”, the Eye Filmmuseum presents the first exhibition in the Netherlands dedicated to the work of the multi-award-winning Turkish director and photographer, Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
In 2014, Nuri Bilge Ceylan left the Cannes Film Festival with the Palme d'Or for Winter Sleep. This dense work of more than three hours immersed us in the landscape of Anatolia as far as the eye could see, between desert steppes and mountainous reliefs.
A supreme award that followed the two Grand Prix wins in Cannes. Uzak (2003) et Once upon a time in Anatolia (2011), awarded the FIPRESCI prize by international critics for The Climates (2006) and the Best Director Award for The Three Monkeys (2008).
Today, the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam is dedicating its first exhibition to this great name in Turkish cinema. Paying tribute to his work as a director, on the one hand, but also and especially to his lesser-known work as a photographer.
The Dutch institution thus combines its award-winning films with its immersive landscape shots, where dramatic lighting, nuanced colors and almost imperturbable protagonists transport us into calm and resonant stories.
Contemplative environments
This 66-year-old master of the image, originally from Istanbul, began his career as a photographer, but quickly became known in cinema for his feature films that probe the human condition, his storytelling soul and his love for literature.
Her works immerse us in meticulously composed visual narratives. Between shadow and light, Nuri Bilge Ceylan captures the captivating beauty of Turkish landscapes and the nuanced depths of its inhabitants. The poignant stillness that emanates from them invites inner, introspective journeys where many of her characters embody photographers, artists, and teachers.
He thus makes the background a foreground backdrop, helping to develop his protagonists in their existential reflections, whether they are immersed in long interior shots or vast urban, natural or wild landscapes. "All are authentic individuals navigating personal struggles, seeking meaningful connections, and learning to overcome loneliness and communication challenges," explains the museum.
Essence and materiality
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's stagings thus reaffirm his sense of composition, mixing moving images and fixed shots, while his photographs, printed on large format CinemaScope, constantly exude a cinematic sensibility.
In his creative process, the two respond to and merge with each other, creating within his scenarios a world where the abstract and the concrete move in a hollowing of temporal space. "His stories are rooted in the recent history of Turkey and its many contrasts, between city and countryside, religion and secularism, intellectual and working-class circles, rich and poor, individualism and collectivism."the institution continued.
The photographic exhibition is accompanied by several screenings of his feature films, most of which are in 35mm and from the museum's collection. In parallel, Turkish and Dutch photographers, filmmakers, and artists will analyze his work and how it resonates within various Turkish communities.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's nuanced and humanist artistic vision, often influenced by Anton Chekhov and Ingmar Bergman, continues to have a strong resonance and influence on contemporary Turkish cinema.
“Nuri Bilge Ceylan – Inner Landscapes”
Eye Film Museum
IJpromenade 1, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Until 1er June 2025
