CAA Signs ‘Noah Land’ Director Cenk Erturk (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International EditorTurkish writer-director Cenk Ertürk has signed with CAA for representation in all areas.The Istanbul-based Ertürk made his debut with “Noah Land,” which he developed as a Cannes Cinéfondation resident in 2016, and ultimately premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019, where it won awards for best screenplay and best actor in the international category.

The wins were a first for a Turkish project at the New York festival.The film follows an ailing father and son who travel to a village where the former grew up in order to carry out his dying wish to be buried under a particular tree.

However, they must first contend with angry villagers who claim that it was, in fact, Noah who planted the tree. “Noah Land” also picked up best picture at the Altin Koza Film Festival (which is now called the International Adana Film Festival), Turkey’s most prestigious film festival, and also screened at the Sao Paolo, Tallinn Black Nights, Melbourne, Göteborg, Hamburg and Vancouver Film Festivals.Ertürk’s first short film “Behind the Windows” won a best short special mention at the Nuremberg Film Festival in 2009.

Since then, he made “An Unpleasant Issue” (2010), “A Long Day” (2016) and “Shall No One Hold My Hand!” (2018), which was selected to the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.Ertürk has a Master of Fine Arts in directing from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied under Darren Aronofsky. “Noah Land” originated as part of the director’s thesis at Tisch.