Gündüz Apollon Gece Athena

In various movies from ancient times to the present, both in China and abroad, there are many stories that use the ghosts of the dead to conduct individual questioning, such as "Coco", which is based on the theme of family affection, "The Next Stop, Heaven", which uses individual memories to form a group image, and "The Sixth Sense", which uses horror to wrap up a warm core... "Apollo by Day, Athena by Night", a shortlisted film in the main competition unit of the "Temple of Heaven Award" at this year's Beijing International Film Festival, also spans thousands of years in this magical form. As the title suggests, this is a story full of mythology. In Greek mythology, Apollo is the god of light, prophecy, and disaster relief, while Athena is the god of wisdom and the patron saint of women. The two gods stand facing each other on the Mediterranean Sea, jointly guarding the small town of Side in Turkey.

Psychic orphan Defne arrives here in search of her long-lost mother, accompanied by three souls from different eras: a Marxist revolutionary, a prostitute, and an ancient priestess.

Delphine's journey to find her mother is also a journey for her and the three souls to break their obsessions. Delphine thought her mother had passed away, so she asked the souls that had been following her to help her find her mother's whereabouts, but she found that her mother lived a free and easy life and she was abandoned.

The film does not portray this "atypical" mother as an object of public blame, but eliminates the social role of "mother" and allows women to return to their individuality. The reconciliation between Defen and her daughter is not achieved through the clichéd expression of debt and compensation. There is no imagined happy ending, nor too much resentment. The inheritance of the "psychic" ability has given their individual will a hint of divinity. From this moment on, Defen began to face up to her special mission and help the wandering souls fulfill their long-cherished wishes. The story of the ancient priestess is the most moving part of the film. She was burned to death for releasing a female slave in violation of the doctrine. She wandered in the historical relics of Side for thousands of years, and sent off her soul that no longer lingered in the world in the beautiful sunset unique to the Mediterranean, just like the incarnation of Athena.

She forgot her own name and language, but was unwilling to become a person without words in history. She wanted all future generations to remember that there was a priestess who died for helping countless girls, and to remember her true fear and her ever-shining figure in that cruel history. "Apollo by Day, Athena by Night" is the feature film debut of Turkish director Emine Yildirim. It won the Best Film Award in the Asian Future Unit at the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Prior to this, Amina was already an outstanding screenwriter and producer, and her works have been nominated for many major international film festivals such as Busan, Berlin, and Cannes. She focuses on female narratives and intends to fight against the male perspective in this debut work.

Although the film tells the unfinished stories of multiple souls and involves political issues such as the military coup and armed conflicts in Turkey in the 1980s, the overall tone is not heavy. It strikes a good balance between historical references, mythological metaphors, and realistic expressions. The mutual assistance and redemption of women across time and space makes the whole story particularly warm, and the portrayal of various mother-daughter/mother-son relationships is closer to life itself.

Movie fans are welcome to watch "Apollo by Day, Athena by Night" during this Beijing International Film Festival. Cross the boundary between life and death in the soul ferry on the big screen and experience a special journey.

This movie is the most anticipated movie in the main competition unit of the Beijing Film Festival. It has received much praise and it is indeed extraordinary after watching it. I was fortunate to have been to Turkey on a business trip in 2019 and experienced the unique customs and culture of Turkey. I hope that this film can allow Chinese audiences to appreciate the unique charm of Turkish movies. The film not only has the beautiful scenery of the Mediterranean, but also borrows two gods from Greek mythology: Apollo, who symbolizes light and prophecy, and Athena, who symbolizes wisdom and female protection, to form a dual divine protection for the Mediterranean town of Side. This setting not only echoes the cultural integration background of Turkey across the Eurasian continent, but also implies the struggle of modern women between light and shadow. Through the mutual assistance of souls and intergenerational dialogue in the film, the film transforms Turkey's modern political trauma (such as military coups) into the healing of collective memory, reflecting the director's delicate handling of complex history and feminist expression. The film's unique divine temperament is complemented by the non-traditional portrayal of individual humanity. The film takes the orphan Defne's journey to find his mother as the main line, breaking the traditional stereotype of "mother's sacrifice". Defen discovered that her mother did not die but chose to live freely. In the end, she reached a reconciliation without relying on debt and compensation, which reshaped the possibility of the development of the mother-daughter relationship. The unique "psychic" ability of the heroine is not only a tool for finding her mother, but also a bridge connecting life and death. Many emotional interactions between other actors, including Defen, and the souls are vivid and interesting. The scene where the ancient priestess sent the souls into the sea one by one in the sunset and finally sent herself away shines with the brilliance of humanity in the warmth and reluctance, giving the film a profound realistic significance of surreal elements. After the screening, the director also said that the film wanted to challenge the traditional male-dominated narrative structure. Through the role of a mute priestess who was burned to death for privately releasing a female slave, but guarded the female soul with a wandering soul, it reflects the long-term "speechlessness" of women in the torrent of history, which is very profound. I sincerely hope that this film can win the Tiantan Award at this year's Beijing Film Festival.

It has replaced other participating films and become the top of the Beijing Film Festival. How lucky I am to see such a great film! I personally awarded the Tiantan Award for Best Film, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress to this film!!! How can it be so full of divinity, humanity, and love! Unconsciously, I was moved by the actors, plot, pictures, and music, and almost cried throughout the film! Without spoiling, a more vulgar summary is: people who lack love do not understand love, they want to be loved when they are looking for their mothers, and they learn to love others after they understand love. The quality of this movie is extremely high, even terrifyingly high. I like one of the supporting characters in it, the mother Naqif. The look she gave her daughter was more loving than Li Xiang's look at her daughter. That was the first time I cried. I really hope she can win the Best Supporting Actress!!! Introduce it to me in China, I want to watch it again! Without spoiling, I hope there will be audiences who can have such a magical viewing experience!!! Such a magical journey of love that heals the soul!!!

This is the only movie that made me applaud after watching the three movies I watched at the Beijing Film Festival. It is delicate, ethereal and gentle. I originally thought it was a story about searching for my mother. At the end, the heroine said to her mother, "You don't want me but you want me to love you." It was so real. In contrast to the relationship between another mother and daughter, the world is a huge mother problem... The mother frankly said that I can't give you what you want (maternal love), but I will help you with the matter of the dead. I like the treatment here very much. The image of the mother does not fall into the paradigm of maternal love in social culture. The heroine is struggling to pursue the love that cannot be obtained. Although she failed, she has reached a kind of wonderful reconciliation with life after experiencing this journey. I disagree with the comment that the ending is "the unity of humans and ghosts". Lonely souls are connected and share each other's lives. The dead souls who refuse to go to the next life are lonely, and the heroine and mother who can communicate with spirits are also marginalized people in this world. The story of the priestess reminds me of the story of the Temple of Nemi in The Golden Bough, where priests were also selected from slaves. According to legend, Aeneas, under the guidance of Sibyl, the priestess of Apollo, went to the underworld to look for the ghost of his father Anchises. Before he set out, he broke the golden bough of the temple, which vaguely echoes the setting of the heroine looking for her mother and communicating with spirits. I wonder if the director was inspired by it. The city of West Germany is so beautiful. I didn't expect the name of this city means pomegranate. I really like it and hope to go there in person one day.

First of all, it is a typical feminist work, breaking the binary oppositional narrative, rejecting the interpretation of women's functional roles, and trying to break the traditional search structure... But the most special feeling is not in the "position", but in the way of expression. The director uses an extremely gentle form to wrap up the sharp content. From this perspective, the main line of Defen's search for her mother can naturally be seen as a dismantling of "mother" or "mother-daughter relationship" and even expanded to "female roles" and "female missions". As a search for relatives, there is no happy ending, and there is not even a clear answer. But the question it leaves is more real: Can we let go of our obsession with the role of "mother" and instead understand the choices of women as "individuals"? Other branches that complete this expression together include another pair of quarreling and reconciling mother and daughter, the landlord who left the oppression of marriage, the priestess who lost her voice in the long history, etc. Whether it is a private trauma that takes a lifetime to heal, or a flash of political bloodshed on TV, public and private domains, history and the present, all of this happens in the soft light and shadow, the surrounding chanting and the rhythm of light comedy, illuminated by the Mediterranean sunshine and the reflection of the waves, and also supported by the tenacity of the broken walls of the side town. This approach is not to eliminate the seriousness of the topic or to erase the "bitterness and hatred" that overwhelms everyone, but to try to find another way to narrate the pain - not by anger and accusation, but by narration and companionship. Perhaps it can be seen as another possibility of female narrative: not for the purpose of resistance, but for empathy, acceptance and transformation. Returning to the content, it is also a very interesting setting of the script as a fantasy element: being with ghosts means being with the universe at the same time, and the re-interpretation of "medium" or "witch" is established.