SNOW AND THE BEAR
Selcen Ergun
NEFES FILMS (Turkey), RIVA FILM (Germany), SET SAIL FILMS (Serbia), fiction
A newly appointed nurse in a small, snow-covered, boarder town where the winter surprisingly doesn’t come to an end... Rumors of bears rising early from winter-sleep... A man goes missing one night.
In a small, snow-covered, border town of Turkey, winter surprisingly doesn’t come to an end this year. The roads are blocked due to heavy snowfall. The rumor has it that bears have risen early from winter-sleep and killed some animals around. ASLI is a young nurse who has appointed here recently. A man from the town, HASAN, goes missing the night Asli has an argument with him. Everybody has a different theory about his disappearance and many fingers are pointed at SAMET, a young man who has had some troubles with him. However, Samet already knows that Asli is the one who accidentally caused Hasan’s death. Hiding this even from Asli, he starts to see himself as her guardian. Asli's refusal of him infuriates Samet. While they are having a quarrel, a gunshot is heard from outside. They go to see what has happened: amidst the angry crowd, a bear lies dead on the snow – killed by the villagers. Hasan’s corpse has been discovered in the forest. The bear becomes the bearer of all sins.
Selcen Ergun / IMDb
SELCEN ERGUN is a film director, screenwriter and photographer from Istanbul, Turkey. After studying Industrial Design and Visual Culture at Middle East Technical University, she obtained her MA in Screenwriting and Directing at Istanbul Bilgi University. She is a Berlinale Talents 2018 and Nipkow Artist-in-Residence 2019 alumna. She began her career as an assistant director, worked in many national and international productions including two feature films of well known Turkish director Reha Erdem: MY ONLY SUNSHINE and KOSMOS. Her short films CONFRONTATION and A SUNNY DAY have been selected by several international film festivals (including Munich, LUCAS Frankfurt, Brussels, Los Angeles, !f İstanbul, Ankara, Adana Golden Boll) and awarded prizes. Selcen is currently working on the post-production of her debut feature film SNOW AND THE BEAR, which is a Turkish, German, Serbian co-production supported by Eurimages, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkey, Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film and Film Center Serbia. The film project has been developed at Berlinale Talents Script Station, Nipkow Artist-in-Residence and First Films First, Goethe-Institut Young Directors ́ Academy South-Eastern Europe. It won Best Project Award at Meetings on the Bridge Platform of Istanbul International Film Festival as well as at Bosphorus Film Lab.
Director’s statement
SNOW AND THE BEAR is the story of a young woman’s confrontation with the unknown, doubt and guilt. It is the story of a small town getting increasingly cut off from the world by a harsh winter, which doesn’t come to an end – almost in a kind of surreal way. It is also the story of the manhood, who turns everything into an issue of masculinity, an issue of power struggle. In this setting of endless winter, as the daily life unfolds around a man who has gone missing suddenly, it lays bare the most complicated sides of human nature. Although the bear is in the leading role as a created enemy, the growing fear around the arrival of the bear is bigger than the enemy itself. However, we actually see the bear only twice: first time when ASLI encounters it in nature as an impressive creature; and the second time, at the end, when it is killed by the villagers as the scapegoat of HASAN’s fate. I imagine SNOW AND THE BEAR as a counter-fairy-tale, in which nobody lives happily ever after.
Where are we at?
Total budget: 580.000,00 EUR
Financing in place: 500.000,00 EUR
Sales agent: none
Territories available: World (except Turkey, Germany, Serbia)
Looking for at CineLink?
Our aim is to present our film for the first time to the industry professionals and festival programmers. We are looking for gap financing and possible collaboration with sales agents. We need the support of post-production funds and services for finishing the image and sound post-production - especially for color grading, VFX and sound design – which are for us the major components that will enhance the overall feel and soul of the film.
Production Company profile
NEFES' FILMS based in Istanbul, is a film production company established in 2018. It's mainly focusing on developing and producing films which have potential for international audience. Concentrating on co-production since 2012, the founder of the company, Nefes Polat has been producing films which have been pre-sold in Europe and won success in film festivals. She is a Berlinale Talents and Talents Sarajevo alumna. She was assistant to producer of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s WINTER SLEEP. She worked as the head of production for Mars Production. She was the associate producer of SOMETHING USEFUL, by Pelin Esmer (2017 / Turkey, France, Germany, Netherlands). She co-produced SIBEL(2018), by Çağla Zencirci & Guillaume Giovannetti which made its world premiere at Locarno International Film Festival, receiving FIPRESCI Prize, ECUMENICAL Prize, Second Prize of the JUNIOR JURY. She is a member of European Film Academy. Nefes' Films is her own production company. The company’s recent credits are PENNY BANK by Ferit Karol and SNOW AND THE BEAR by Selcen Ergun that are already granted by national authorities during their development processes.