Screening of the rarely seen 1953 Turkish horror film 'Dracula in Istanbul', newly restored in 4K, within The Trylon Cinema's 'Archives on Screen' series.
The Trylon Cinema is screening Dracula in Istanbul on Thursday, October 22, at 7 PM. It's a 1953 Turkish horror film, 102 minutes long, in Turkish and Romanian with English subtitles, and it's being presented as part of the cinema's Archives on Screen series.
Directed by Mehmet Muhtar, the film is billed as the earliest surviving Turkish horror movie. It takes Bram Stoker's novel and moves the action to the streets of Istanbul, where Count Dracula—played by Atıf Kaptan and called a hortlak—is reimagined as a blood-sucking capitalist. Instead of just hunting for blood, he enlists his lawyer, Azmi, played by Bülent Oran, to buy up real estate on his behalf. It's a strange, specific twist on the character that shifts the story from a gothic castle to the urban landscape of mid-century Turkey.
The film is rarely screened and was newly restored in 4K from a badly damaged 35mm print, with the DCP provided by Sinematek/Sinema Evi. That restoration is a big part of why it's playing now; it's a film that would've otherwise stayed tucked away in an archive. The screening is part of Archives on Screen, The Trylon's quarterly series that highlights new restorations of rediscovered films, with an emphasis on silent cinema, feminist filmmaking, and experimental work. This one fits right in—a rare, restored piece of international genre cinema that you won't find anywhere else.
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Dracula in Istanbul runs 102 minutes and starts at 7 PM on Thursday, October 22, at The Trylon Cinema, 2820 E 33rd St, Minneapolis, MN 55406.
