Billionaire

In Kartal Tibet's film, Şener Şen plays Mesut, the stationmaster of a small district called Mesudiye. He wins a large prize in the national lottery, and the real story starts there: not what to do with the money but who to hide it from. Preparation began in February 1985 and the idea comes from an actual phenomenon. Many people who won large lottery prizes in eighties Turkey concealed the fact, because of what relatives, neighbours and the state would come to ask for. The film treats this as comedy without distorting the social fact behind it. Adile Naşit, Münir Özkul and Uğur Yücel are in the cast. It was shot at Sapanca railway station, and the station itself is the film's most memorable location. Its central idea is the impossibility of moving up a class: the money arrives and does not change Mesut's life, only how everyone around him looks at him. Who it is for: viewers who like eighties Turkish comedy and Şener Şen. Who it is not for: anyone expecting fast comedy, since the film moves slowly and its humour is situational.