About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)
The latest drama from celebrated Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, About Dry Grasses is a work of elegant, novelistic filmmaking, rigorously unpacking questions of belief vs. action, the tangible vs. the enigmatic, and who people wish to be vs. how they live. Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), an elementary school teacher working in rural eastern Anatolia, hopes to move to his native Istanbul after being accused of harassing a student. A fellow teacher (Merve Dizdar, Best Actress winner at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival) offers Samet a new perspective on life.
Underwriting for the Film Department is provided by Tenaris, The June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation, and the Vaughn Foundation.
Generous funding is provided by The Consulate General of the Republic of Korea; Nina and Michael Zilkha; Lois Chiles; Foundation for Independent Media Arts; Franci Neely; Carrin Patman and Jim Derrick; Ms. Laurence Unger; L’Alliance Française de Houston; and ILEX Foundation.
Special thanks to community partner American Turkish Association of Houston.
About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne)
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
(Türkiye/France/Germany/Sweden, 2023, 197 minutes, in Turkish with English subtitles)
Brown Auditorium Theater, digital