The Ringing Ball

The Ringing Ball (Turkish: Çıngıraklı Top) is a 2009 Turkish comedy film written and directed by Mahir Egemen Ertürk, about a team of blind football players who want to attend the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18), has been screened at film festivals in Ankara and Salonika.[1][2]

The Ringing Ball
Theatrical poster
Directed byMahir Egemen Ertürk
Produced byPelin Ertürk
Mahir Egemen Ertürk
Written byMahir Egemen Ertürk
StarringBurak Önal
İpek Özkök
Zihni Göktay
Music byIlker Yurtcan
CinematographyUlaş Zeybek
Edited byMustafa Preşeva
Release date
  • September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18)
CountryTurkey
LanguageTurkish
Box office$67,352

Production

The film was shot on location in Istanbul, Turkey.[3]

Plot

The film follows a handful of blind people, including a fisherman, a call-center agent and a man who sells lottery tickets on the street, from the Bosporus Society for the Blind, training to compete in the soccer category at the Paralympics. Kerem (Burak Önal), a former soccer star who has become an alcoholic coaches the team and falls in love with the beautiful Semra (İpek Özkök), a young woman works for the society. Unfortunately, Kerem has some thugs on his tail due to his past debts and his weakness for wine puts his coaching activities in danger.

Release

General release

The film opened in 45 screens across Turkey on September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18) at number sixteen in the Turkish box office chart with an opening weekend gross of $12,819.[4]

Festival screenings

Reception

Box Office

The film has made a total gross of $67,352.[4]

Reviews

Emine Yıldrım, writing in Today's Zaman, describes the film as, "a borderline emotion exploiter that performs quite pleasantly despite some of its excesses until that point at the very end in which the filmmakers transform their cute story into a slice of unnecessary arabesque." "The film", he continues, "has a lot of funny and sweet moments thanks to the enthusiasm of the actors who are playing the blind team members, and director Ertürk should be congratulated for portraying them with respect instead of pity", and, "I was smiling with amusement as I was watching this quasi-sports comedy until I was subjected to the bombardment of sentiment in the movie's final 10 minutes, thus I regret to say that I couldn't help ending up cowered with a sour expression on my face. They had taken away my feel-good moment, and I don't even know for what purpose." He concludes that the film, "has the potential to reach the hearts of enough audience members; it tries to illustrate a positive message - anyone can do anything. It's just that no one wants to watch an alcoholic overcome with self-pity if they're in the mood for regaining hope."[8]

gollark: Is it permitted to interfere with other entrants?
gollark: <@!293066066605768714> Is the program permitted to do arbitrary things to the machine on which it runs as long as they probably aren't bad much?
gollark: Ah yes, it does say they don't, how bee.
gollark: Although does it say they DON'T?
gollark: Oh, that's a neat idea.

See also

References
  1. "A rainbow of Turkish films awaits moviegoers". Today's Zaman. 2008-07-22. Archived from the original on 2012-10-07. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  2. "70 domestic productions to debut this season". Today's Zaman. 2009-08-25. Archived from the original on 2014-04-28. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  3. "Filming locations for Çingirakli top". IMDB. Retrieved 2010-02-18.
  4. "Cingirakli top". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  5. "Çıngıraklı Top / The Ringing Ball". AIFF. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  6. "Award winners running at Ankara film festival". Today's Zaman. 2010-01-28. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  7. Güler, Emrah (2010-03-12). "Up-and-coming Turkish movies screen in Ankara". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 2013-01-04. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  8. Yıldrım, Emine (2010-01-28). "For the love of soccer". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
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