Nuri Bilge Ceylan's ‘About Dry Grasses' tops box office in Turkey

Renowned director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's latest work, "About Dry Grasses," continued to lead the Box Office Turkey rankings with around 49,000 viewers in its second week of release.

According to Box Office Turkey's statement, "About Dry Grasses" reached a total of 167,799 viewers since its release from October 6 to 8, with 48,953 viewers during that weekend, making it Nuri Bilge Ceylan's most-watched film, surpassing "Once About a Time in Anatolia."

Ceylan's 2011 film "Once About a Time in Anatolia," for which he was the screenwriter and director, competed for the Golden Palm at the 64th Cannes Film Festival that year. The award ultimately went to Terrence Malik's "The Tree of Life," while the Grand Prix went to Nuri Bilge Ceylan and Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne for "The Kid with a Bike."

"About Dry Grasses" did not make it into the top ranks for the Golden Palm at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, but the film's lead actress, Merve Dizdar, won the "Best Actress" award for her performance.

"Once About a Time in Anatolia" had reached a total of 161,000 viewers at the box office until now. Therefore, "About Dry Grasses" managed to surpass the total number of viewers "Once About a Time in Anatolia" had accumulated over an entire season in just two weeks.

Despite Nuri Bilge Ceylan's international reputation and the records he has broken with "About Dry Grasses," his films lag far behind in terms of box office attendance and revenue. None of Ceylan's films are among the top 100 most-watched Turkish films. (AEK/VK)