The Small Town (Kasaba)

Kasaba is the first feature film by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, made in 1997. Running about 85 minutes, this semi-autobiographical Turkish drama is shot in black and white, and it began a career later full of international awards. Its restrained storytelling, dramatic photography and semi-documentary manner give it a distinctive cinematic voice.

The story is set in the 1970s in a gloomy small town in western Turkey. As spring begins, the children of a household where three generations live together set out to wander after school, and the viewer sees the town, the countryside and the people who live there through their eyes. The film follows how they cope with a life that grows more complicated as they grow up. Mehmet Emin Toprak plays Saffet, Havva Sağlam is Asiye, Cihat Bütün is Ali and Fatma Ceylan is the grandmother; Muzaffer Özdemir is also in the cast.

Ceylan both directed and wrote the film. The script was adapted from a story by his sister Emin Ceylan, inspired by the childhood memories they shared in a remote Anatolian town. A photographer by training, he uses long takes and landscape shots reminiscent of Tarkovski. The film had its world premiere in February 1998 and is known internationally as The Small Town.