Sivas

Aslan is eleven and lives in a village in eastern Turkey. One day he finds a badly injured shepherd dog left in a ditch to die. The dog's name is Sivas and he is a fighting dog. Aslan nurses him back and the two become inseparable. As Sivas wins fights, Aslan gains a standing in the village; the boy who lost the prince's part in the school play and lost the girl he likes to the headman's son is now somebody else. But Sivas's success draws the attention of the adults, and the dog starts slipping out of the boy's hands. Kaan Müjdeci's film took the special jury prize at Venice in 2014. Ninety-seven minutes. Doğan İzci plays Aslan; Sivas is a real dog. The film was also criticised for putting dog fighting on screen.