This film screened 17th May 2016.

Our monthly Feast Your Eyes event will be Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s gripping French-Turkish debut feature, Mustang. Following this screening, enjoy a Turkish-influenced main course in the IFI Café Bar. (Click here for the main Mustang event page.)

Five orphaned sisters are kept under strict lock and key in a remote Turkish town by their aunt and uncle until one by one they are married off, as long as their virginity can be assured to prospective suitors. This is a conservative, traditional community where parents still seek evidence of consummation from couples on their wedding night. An entirely innocent encounter with a group of local boys at the outset draws increasing restrictions on the girls’ freedoms and basic rights – we follow the ensuing emergency marriage preparations through the eyes of the youngest of the girls, Lale (Gunes Sensoy) who says in voiceover, “our house became a wife factory.” Lale comes to realise that escaping this well-furnished prison is the only course of action left to her. Modern patriarchal Turkey comes under scrutiny in Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s remarkably assured debut. (Notes by David O’Mahony.)

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Juicy slow stewed lamb meatballs served with pilau rice, pita bread and yoghurt.

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Freshly grilled fish kebab with lemon, pepper, red onions and bay leaves served on boiled potatoes and roasted Mediterranean vegetables.

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Stuffed aubergine with tomatoes, olives, capers and cheese served on pilau rice and minted yoghurt.

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