Part of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s mission is to foster greater understanding through world cinema. This year 72 Foreign Language films were submitted for Golden Globes consideration. Here is an overview of one of them.

Filmed in Turkey with an all Turkish cast by French-Turkish director Deniz Gamze Ergüven who co-wrote the film with Alice Winocour, Mustang is a French entry and emblematic of the current trend toward a truly global cinema where talent and producers from many countries collaborate to tell original stories. In this case it is both a lyrical and heartbreaking tale of resilient girlhood in the face of an adult a world that seems bent on breaking its innocence and free spirit

Mustang is a strange title for a Turkish movie. Ms. Ergüven’s debut feature was shot in the Black Sea region in the northern part of Turkey. The 94-minute picture showcases the talents of five Turkish teenage girls in leading roles. The supporting cast members are all locals. There are a lot of Turks behind the camera as well.

The film opens in a small village in a remote part of the country as a group of five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates after school is out. Although their games are innocent fun, a neighbor reports to the orphaned girls’ grandmother what she considers to be their illicit behavior. Their games cause a scandal within the family with life-changing consequences for the girls. The family home turns into a prison, classes on housework and cooking replace school and marriages begin to be arranged.

The sisters, who share a common passion for freedom and independence, find ways of getting around the constraints imposed on them by an uncle and other conservative family members. As they chase their dreams, they end up at the doorsteps of their sympathetic former teacher.

A native of Ankara, Erguven considers the film the story of emancipation. How does the title figure fit in with the picture – “A mustang is a wild horse that perfectly symbolizes my five spirited and untamable heroines,” Erguven explains. The novice director was inspired by a number of influences, such as Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides.

“I wanted to talk about what it’s like to be a girl and a woman in modern-day Turkey, where the condition of women is more than ever a major public issue,” Erguven explains. The story line also draws from her own experiences. “In the opening scenes, the minor scandal that the girls provoke by climbing onto the boys’ shoulders before being violently reprimanded really happened to me when I was a teen,” says Erguven.

Ali Sar