76th Cannes Film Festival’s Best Performance Award Goes to KHAS Graduate Merve Dizdar

The awards were presented at the 76th Cannes Film Festival this year. Merve Dizdar, a 2016 KHAS Film and Drama MA Program graduate, won the Best Performance award for her role in the film “About Dry Grasses.” Merve Dizdar co-stars with Deniz Celiloğlu and Musab Ekici in the 2023 film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

In her acceptance speech, Merve Dizdar said, “The character ‘Nuray’ I portrayed is a woman who fights for what she believes in and her existence and has been forced to pay the price for this cause. I wish to study longer and harder to get to know and understand her, but unfortunately, being a woman in my land requires me to know women’s feelings like Nuray by heart since the day I was born. I dedicate this award to strengthening the struggle of Nuray and women like her. I dedicate this award to all my sisters who do not bow down to what they are deemed worthy of, who take action, who risk everything for this cause, and who do not give up hope, and to all the struggling souls in Turkey who are longing for the good days they deserve.”

For detailed information about the winners: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/press/press-releases/the-76th-festival-de-cannes-winners-list/ 

To watch the press conference of the movie in Cannes: https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/medialibrary/about-dry-grasses-by-nuri-bilge-ceylan-press-conference/