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The Istanbul International Film Festival.

Article Excerpt
Istiklal Caddesi is not the Croisette, but there was a pronounced French accent to the Istanbul Festival for its twenty-fifth year. Istiklal Caddesi, in the commercially and culturally rich Beyoglu district, is the broad and long pedestrian way that throbs at all hours with a moving mass of people who amble in both directions between scores of shops, cafes, restaurants, consulates, stands selling simits (tasty buns, shaped like large bagels, covered with sesame seeds), and the several theaters where festival films are shown. The festival this year, a big, well-organized affair in this gloriously chaotic Eurasian metropolis, declared a "French Spring" with celebrations honoring French luminary-guests plus screenings of an ensemble of past and recent French films--Christian Carion's Joyeux Noel opened the festivities. This French motif reflects Turkish efforts to identify with European culture, and to bolster the campaign for entry into the European Union. The French will reciprocate with a "Turkish Spring" in 2009.

I limited my exposure to the charms of the Gallic theme to one film, and to getting a glimpse of les formidables Gerard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve, having had to elbow my way through the paparazzi who nearly crushed me as I star gazed. Each appeared briefly at the gala closing and received Honorary Cinema Awards. Earlier, the tres formidable Jeanne Moreau came and went...