Senem Tüzen Masterclass & Film Screening
Milk and Chocolate + Motherland








Milk and Chocolate

directed by Senem Tüzen

In her dream her father is there caressing her hair. She wakes to a hard day. Her mother’s milk has dried up and her young brother is sick. She needs to go fetch some milk. This is the story of Emine, set somewhere between a village and a town, herself between childhood and womanhood.








Motherland

directed by Senem Tüzen

Nesrin is an urban, middle-class woman recovering from a divorce. She’s quit her office job, abandoned her house in Istanbul, and come to the village house of her deceased grandmother to finish a novel and live out her childhood dream of being a writer. When her conservative and increasingly unhinged mother turns up uninvited and refuses to leave, Nesrin’s writing stalls and her fantasies of village life turn bitter as the two are forced to confront the darker corners of each other’s inner worlds.









Senem Tüzen

director


Ceyda Berk-Söderblom

moderator

Senem Tüzen, born in Ankara and resident of Catalonia, wrote and directed the Turkish mother-daughter drama Motherland (Ana Yurdu)—her first feature film—which premiered at the 2015 Venice Critics' Week, won 18 national awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay from the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD), as well as Best Screenplay at the 2015 Asia-Pacific Awards, two FIPRESCI awards (Warsaw and Istanbul) and was among the ten films proposed by FIPRESCI for the 2016 European Film Awards. She co-directed the narrative documentary Eat Your Catfish (2021), which premiered in competition at IDFA and won Best Documentary at the Istanbul Film Festival. She is also one of six international finalists for the 2022 Academy Gold Fellowship for Women, given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Previously, she has contributed to various film and television projects—including Al Jazeera and Turkish state television—as a producer, editor and director of photography.
Based in Helsinki, Ceyda  Berk-Söderblom is an independent curator, cultural entrepreneur, manager and festival programmer with more than 20 years of experience. She has worked with diverse cultures as the programmer of international festivals with close ties to world-known institutions, orchestras, artists, and ensembles. Ceyda has an extensive international professional network and specialist knowledge in programming, curating, cultural branding, co-creation, fundraising, sponsorship, advocacy and lobbying.