In very exciting news, we have come to learn that "Birdie" the short film written, directed and produced by Cagatay Ulusoy has been selected at the 27th Palm Springs Shortfest 2021 which will be California's first in-theater film festival since the start of the COVID pandemic. A prestigious and well known event, it is designated as an awards qualifying event by the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences (AMPAS), BAFTA, The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) and the Goya Awards. Over its 26 year history, more than 100 of the festival's curated movies have gone on to receive Oscar nominations.

Birdie is one of 295 movies selected out of a pool of more than 5,500 submissions from 104 countries. It will be competing in the Best International Short category and, not only that, Birdie will also be playing as one of six movies on the opening night, which is a great honor for any festival entrant. Birdie is the only movie on opening night from a non-English speaking country.

At 20 minutes, Birdie is "The story of a lonely fisherman whose relationship with life, nature and human being is fair. For him, life is about living with a full belly until a goldfinch hits his window. Will his relationship with the goldfinch change the fate of the fisherman?". Working with his little brother Atalay who was editor of the film, and cast members Turgay Tanulku and Ersin Arici, whom Cagatay worked with in Paper Lives, Birdie is an introspective short that makes us question our place and aspirations in the world.

There is a second Turkish film (The School Bus) playing at the festival by Ramazan Kilic, which will be competing in the Best Student International Short category.

In 2017, director Can Ulkay's film Ayla had won the audience award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Unlike Birdie's earlier appearance at the Oxford Film Festival, where the movie was available for virtual screening for fans in the United States, Birdie will only be shown in theater, with passes and tickets to be purchased. Even media professionals will not gain automatic access to the screening on opening night.

We are very excited for the Ulusoy Brothers on their maiden journey as a powerful filmmaking duo. As Mr. Ulkay said in his interview with North America TEN, "Cagatay wants to work behind the cameras as much as he works on-screen. He has an intense interest in the process behind the cameras. His biggest strengths will be his tenacity in trying, acquiring knowledge, learning, thinking and questioning about the process behind the cameras. Soon we will see him filming his own movies or producing them. I’m sure he will contribute greatly to the movie industry and Turkish cinema. May he have an amazing career.”

Birdie's international tour, already at its fourth festival, shows great promise in fulfilling Mr. Ulkay's prediction.

For those of you who missed our earlier review can read it here: https://www.cagatayulusoynorthamerica.com/blog/birdie-kus-cagatays-dream-into-reality

For those of you who missed our video with highlights of the movie can view it on our YouTube channel here:

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Cagatay Ulusoy is a man who not only dreams, but takes deliberate steps towards fulfilling those dreams. In October 2019 in an interview with GQ Middle East, Cagatay said “Just my close friends know I’m going to shoot a film as Director”, and by December of that year, the shooting for his short film “Birdie” had started.

Now playing at the Oxford Film Festival in Mississippi, scripted, directed and produced by Cagatay, Birdie is an obvious labor of love, aesthetically shot with minimal but well-placed dialogues.  Shorts are distinguished by the clarity and simplicity of its story being told, and Birdie delivers perfectly towards this goal. A synchronicity and an inner alignment with life’s core values, a reverence for mother nature and the yin yang of the universe is captured beautifully in a 20 minute film, which also serves as a reflection of the understated Cagatay his fans have come to love.

The Story​
In his 2020 feature article for Hello!, Cagatay shared two insights about his thought processes, that are captured in the story of Birdie. The first is “Whatever it is I need to learn to survive, I learnt it from the sea and the fish” and appropriately, the protagonist in his story is an elderly fisherman who leads a simple existence by himself in a sparsely populated part of the country. ​

Ensconced in a dilapidated shack by the river that is nestled in the reeds, Halit Amca’s life is sustained by his respectful relationship with nature. He only collects as much as he needs for his existence, either consuming his catch or bartering it for basic supplies from a local store.
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During a medical visit, he is told of the need for an expensive surgery and that the failure to have timely intervention might lead to an amputated leg. Resigned to his fate, he accepts that he may lose his leg, and in a poignant moment where he converses with his two legs, it is as though he is chatting with two beloved pets and consoling one for the loss of its life-long pair. 

Halit consents to the competition and, through some wonderful cinematic crescendo of birdsongs, the “Kus” triumphs for Halit and Mashallah. This leads to Halit being able to avail the much-needed surgery to save his leg.
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And this brings us to the second of Cagatay’s epiphanies that echoes in this story.

Just as Halit saves the bird’s broken wing, the bird saves Halit’s broken leg, and they heal each other in an exquisite way. There is indeed a give and take balance in nature, and in a world that we inhabit together, we are rewarded if we seek ways to co-exist in a respectful manner.

And Birdie is a story told simply about some of these fundamental wisdom in life. 

Performances
Veteran actor Turgay Tanulku is perfection as Halit, who captures a spectrum of emotions of a simple man at the juncture of a difficult life situation. We see his sad acceptance, but also his resilience as he continues with life, giving back in ways he can. He makes one question the age-old dilemma about our wants versus needs, and illustrates how basic our needs can be in a world that thrives on conspicuous consumption. We experience his heartfelt joy alongwith him when his love for the bird reflects in the bird’s love for him.

An Old Soul
As we shared on the first day of the film’s release, the shack used for Halit Amca is the same one Cagatay is found in for his guest appearance on Menajerimi Ara in September 2020.

In Birdie, the shack is quite dilapidated and ill-kempt, whereas in Menajerimi Ara it is a well-maintained retreat. It may very well be owned by Cagatay as he claims in his appearance - it is the place he comes to so he doesn’t ‘lose himself”. The old soul in him translates into his first story that he has presented to the world, and it is as much an ode to his guiding principles in living an exploratory but meaningful life as it is to old traditions of his land. 

We are very excited to support the growth of this movie and hope it gets accepted into other major film festivals such as Sundance, SXSW, Toronto, Telluride and more. As it is, this is Birdie’s third appearance at a festival with the first two being at the Montecatini International Short Film Festival in October 2020 and Santa Monica International Film Festival in November 2020. Birdie’s appearance at Oxford marks a regional premiere for the film.
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Confirmed by Indie filmmakers in Hollywood, without the producer’s authorization, we cannot really share photos and videos of the movie, but we do have permission from the organizers of the Oxford Film Festival to share some screenshots. Here is a short video with highlights from the movie, where one can get an idea of the splendor of Cagatay’s cinematic eye.

​As he says in his interview with GQ Turkey released today, “I am still on the journey, the process continues for me with a lot of learning.”

Your fans await more.

Article copyright (c) CUNA & mh Musings

In October 2019, Cagatay told GQMiddleEast "I’ve never told anyone about this by the way. Just my close friends know I’m going to shoot a film as a director. You are the first to know. I’m so excited. Just dreaming every day about it. Every moment.”

Soon after, there were several photos of Cagatay in Kirklareli which were believed to be part of him scouting the location for his film. At the time, the working title for the film was "Freedom Bird" but no further news was available. It was thought the project had been abandoned.

However, on February 15th, Oxford Film Festival announced its selections for 2021, and the Cagatay Ulusoy written and directed film "Birdie" is in the lineup for the short film category. At 20 minutes, it is "The story of a lonely fisherman whose relationship with life, nature and human being is fair. For him, life is about living with a full belly until a goldfinch hits his window. Will his relationship with the goldfinch change the fate of the fisherman?". 

The film stars veteran actor Turgay Tanulku, who is also Cagatay's co-star in the upcoming #PaperLives, which will be on Netflix on March 12.

Filmmaking has been a long term dream for Cagatay, and to not only bring it to fruition, but to do it with his younger brother Atalay as Assistant Director is an incredible foray into the field. 

The movie will be available for virtual viewing April 1 - April 29 and only available to viewers in USA. You can pre-order tickets here.

We came to learn that the movie was also selected at the Montecatini International Short Film Festival in October 2020 and at the Santa Monica Film Festival in November 2020. Getting into the festival circuit is a great achievement for independent filmmaker, and it already looks like a promising start for Cagatay.

Here are some photos of Cagatay from the time of filming, collected from various sources.​

Article (c) CUNA
Updated: February 19, 2021