Selamsız's Band

Selamsız is a forgotten Anatolian town where the newspapers arrive two days late. One day the mayor learns that someone from the highest level of government will pass through, and decides to put together a band to greet them. An advertisement goes into the paper; the only application comes from a bandmaster who has lost his job and sunk into drink. The man arrives in town and tries to build a band out of the material available, which is to say the local tradesmen. Nesli Çölgeçen's film is a provincial comedy, but what it mocks is not the townspeople; it is how the state looks at the town. Nobody attends to the problems, and the only thing expected is a proper welcoming ceremony. Şener Şen plays the bandmaster and keeps the character both ridiculous and helpless. Uğur Yücel is in the cast. It is one of the few Turkish films of the eighties to make social criticism through comedy, and it is treated as a cult film now.