(CUL) INDIAN FESTIVAL TO OPEN WITH TURKISH FILM.

ISTANBUL, Nov 3, 2009 (TUR) -- An international children's film festival will begin with a Turkish film on November 6.

"Mommo", a film by Turkish director Atalay Tasdiken, will be screened on the first day of the Mumbai International Children's Film Festival on November 6.

It will also compete in the world cinema section of the festival.

Tasdiken's first long film "Mommo" has won eight international and three national awards, including "the best film and director" in Iranian Hamedan International Film Festival; "the best film and audience jury best film" in Nuremberg Turkish-German Film Festival; "the best film" in Fifth Yerevan Children's Films Festival; and the "best children's rights film" by UNICEF.

Based on a true story, the film tells about two siblings who live in a village near the central Anatolian city of Konya and whose father remarried after their mother died.

Born in Beysehir, Konya in 1964, Atalay Tasdiken graduated from Konya's Seluk University with a teacher training degree in physics. In 1991, after finishing military service, he began working in advertising, learning a broad range of skills by turns as a dark room technician, media representative, copywriter and creative director. Over the next ten years, he went on to direct over 300 commercials and serve as creative director on some 30 product campaigns.

(BRC-CE)

(THROUGH ASIA PULSE)