Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite

{{Infobox film

| name = Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite

| image = DontLetThemShoottheKite.jpg

| caption = Theatrical film poster

| producer = {{ubl|Tunç Başaran|Jale Onanç}}

| writer = {{ubl|Tunç Başaran|{{ill|Feride Çiçekoğlu|tr||ar|فريدة تشيشك أوغلو}}}}

| starring = {{ubl|Nur Sürer|{{ill|Ozan Bilen|tr}}|Füsun Demirel|{{ill|Rozet Hubeş|tr}}|Güzin Özipek|{{ill|Güzin Özyağcılar|tr}}|{{ill|Yasemin Alkaya|tr}}|Meral Çetinkaya|{{ill|Hale Akınlı|tr}}}}

| cinematography = {{ill|Erdal Kahraman|tr}}

| music = Özkan Turgay

| editing =

| studio = Magnum Film

| distributor =

| released = {{film date|1989||}}

| runtime = 100 minutes

| country = Turkey

| language = Turkish

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite ({{langx|tr|Uçurtmayı Vurmasınlar}}) is a 1989 Turkish drama film, co-written, co-produced and directed by Tunç Başaran based on a 1986 novella by {{ill|Feride Çiçekoğlu|tr||ar|فريدة تشيشك أوغلو}}, featuring Nur Sürer as a female political prisoner who befriends the child of a fellow inmate. The film was screened in competition at the 26th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where it won Golden Oranges for Best Film, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography, the 10th Mediterranean International Film Festival, where it won 2nd Best Film, and the 8th Istanbul International Film Festival, where it won Best Turkish Film. The film was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

The film is set in 1984 Ankara, during the aftermath of the 1980 Turkish coup.{{cite book|author=Pelin Başcı|title=Social Trauma and Telecinematic Memory: Imagining the Turkish Nation since the 1980 Coup|date=October 24, 2017|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NaI7DwAAQBAJ&q=%22Don%27t+let+them+shoot+the+kite%22&pg=PA131|publisher=Springer Nature|location=Basingstoke|pages=131–132, 155|isbn=9783319597225}}{{cite book|author=Gönül Dönmez-Colin|title=The Routledge Dictionary of Turkish Cinema|date=December 4, 2013|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOtJAgAAQBAJ&q=%22Don%27t+let+them+shoot+the+kite%22&pg=PA317|publisher=Routledge|location=London|pages=66, 317|isbn=9781317937265}} It is currently available to legally stream with English subtitles through the German media website {{ill|Pantaflix|de}}.{{cite web|url=https://www.pantaflix.com/en/m/742499|title=Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite - watch online | Pantaflix|work={{ill|Pantaflix|de}}|accessdate=May 7, 2019}}

Plot

When a woman is sent to prison for drug smuggling, Barış, her young son, is sent with her, as is the custom in Turkey. Inside this all-women’s penitentiary, Barış ({{ill|Ozan Bilen|tr}}) searches for companionship and guidance—and finds them both in the form of Inci (Nur Sürer), a political prisoner with whom he forms a very special bond. A beautifully observed, tender story of the growing affection between a woman and a child who is not her own, Tunç Başaran’s film, with a screenplay by {{ill|Feride Çiçekoğlu|tr||ar|فريدة تشيشك أوغلو}} based on her novel, builds an effective counterpoint between the prison world, with its discipline, intrigues and threat of violence, and the private space Inci and Barış manage to create for themselves. Voted Best Turkish Film of the Year at the 1989 Istanbul Film Festival.

Venue: Walter Reade Theater, Howard Gilman Theater

Cast

Nur Sürer as İnci
{{ill|Ozan Bilen|tr}} as Barış
Füsun Demirel as Fatma
{{ill|Rozet Hubeş|tr}} as Zeynep
Güzin Özipek as Sultanteyze
{{ill|Güzin Özyağcılar|tr}} as Selma
{{ill|Yasemin Alkaya|tr}} as Filiz
Meral Çetinkaya as Safinaz
{{ill|Hale Akınlı|tr}} as Sümbül

Production

The film is based on a 1986 novella by Feride Çiçekoğlu,{{cite book|author=Elizabeth Sleeman|title=The International Who's Who of Women 2002|date=2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6J8xDWDqOkEC&q=%22Don%27t+let+them+shoot+the+kite%22&pg=PA105|publisher=Psychology Press|page=105|isbn=9781857431223}} who was inspired by the four years she spent as a political prisoner following the 1980 Turkish coup.{{cite book|author=Özlem Köksal|title=World Film Locations: Istanbul|date=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSXZiQMkVxcC&q=%22Don%27t+let+them+shoot+the+kite%22&pg=PA32|publisher=Intellect Books|pages=38, 109|isbn=9781841505671}}{{cite web|url=https://www.metalocus.es/en/author/curators-turkish-pavilion|title=Curators Turkish Pavilion|work=metalocus.es|accessdate=May 7, 2019}}{{cite web|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A164517406/STND?sid=STND&xid=a212a488|author=Emel Anil|title=Turkey makes its first bid for an Oscar nomination|work=The Globe and Mail|date=January 12, 1990}} Director Tunç Başaran's wife, Jale, served as the film's art director.{{cite web|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/02/01/The-worst-thing-to-happen-to-Turkey-since-the/9240633848400/|author=Vernon Scott|title=The worst thing to happen to Turkey since the...|work=United Press International|date=February 1, 1990|accessdate=May 7, 2019}} The film was produced on a very limited budget, as was common in Turkey at the time. Başaran remarked, "If I were given $1 million to make a picture, I would use the money to make four films."

Although the film is set in Ankara, many of the prison scenes were filmed in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Jail. Ankara's Ulucanlar Prison has also been identified as one of the filming locations.{{cite journal |url=http://library.atilim.edu.tr/bulten/sayilar/2012-06/ankara.html |publisher=Atılım Üniversitesi |language=Turkish |journal=E-Bülten |title=Acıların ve Hüzünlerin Müzesi: Ulucanlar Cezaevi |author=Koldemir, Eren |date=June 2012 |issue=26 |issn=1306-3472 |access-date=8 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130317003722/http://library.atilim.edu.tr/bulten/sayilar/2012-06/ankara.html |archive-date=17 March 2013 |url-status=dead }}

Critical reception

In The Routledge Dictionary of Turkish Cinema, Gönül Dönmez-Colin calls Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite "one of the classics of Turkish cinema", and in World Film Locations: Istanbul, Özlem Köksal writes that "[Baris] leaning against the imposing prison wall with hands in his pockets is definitely an iconic image in Turkish cinema."

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times named Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite as a highlight of the 1990 L.A. Film Festival.{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-15-ca-1892-story.html|author=Michael Wilmington|title=L.A. Film Festival Comes of Age From Friedkin to Donen and the whole world in between, the Fest list includes 200 , films from 40 countries: [Home Edition]|work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 15, 1990|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230817053117/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-15-ca-1892-story.html|archive-date=August 17, 2023 |id = {{ProQuest|281053391}}}}