The Turkish production "49" is set to hit theaters, creating a dazzling effect for cinema-goers, revolving around the real event of rescuing 49 Turkish consulate hostages held captive by the Daesh terrorist organization in Mosul in 2014.
Starring Ismail Hacıoğlu, many prominent Turkish actors took part in the production while the screenplay was penned by Barış Erdoğan and Ilker Arslan and directed by Hakan Inan.
Before the screening of the movie, the premiere of "49" was held at Istanbul's Kanyon AVM.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) reporters, Ismail Hacıoğlu said: "'49' is a movie that tells its story by itself because it is based on real events. As you can remember from the news, it employs the story of the rescue operation of our 49 employees, who were held captives for 101 long days. It was our pleasure to portray this story. The real heroes of the event watched the movie and appreciated it. So we were ready to welcome you at the premiere. We think we did a great job."
Forty-six Turkish citizens – including diplomats, consular officials and their families – and three Iraqi citizens working for the consulate were kidnapped from the Mosul consulate on June 11, a day after the self-proclaimed Daesh took control of Iraq's second-largest city. The Turkish hostages who had been held by Daesh terrorists were rescued and brought back to Türkiye on Sept. 20.
"We had a very difficult preliminary work process. We had to go through a lot of documents and documentaries because the enemies we had to defeat are a very dangerous, a bloody terrorist organization that the world's superpowers also tried to deal with. All of our actors put a lot of effort and time into the action scenes. A well-blended action and drama await our audience," he added.
Commenting on the storyline, the director stated that the film is to be one of the best action drama movies produced in Türkiye. "We are very excited. We will witness the story of 49 people who were taken hostage. I believe that it will move the audience."
He also added that the filming took place in Gaziantep, Kilis and Nizip and took nearly 5.5 weeks to complete.
Emphasizing that they worked with a professional team, actress Hande Doğandemir said: "We are excited because we are involved in such a project. We worked in very difficult conditions due to the geography, but when we watched it, we saw that it was all worth it. We also took martial art, style courses."
Another actor who took part in the movie, Doğukan Polat, said: "In the action genre, we have watched productions from Hollywood for years. But the audience will also see that the Turks can also successfully create these productions. For this reason, we are quite happy with the result."
"It was a very difficult process for us. We didn't use stuntmen in the movie. We all performed the action scenes ourselves. We received training on using guns in terms of how to hold them, how to use them. As it was quite hot during filming, we worked under the scorching heat that rose to 40-50 degrees Celsius (104-122 degrees Fahrenheit), but it turned out to be a very good film," he added.
Underlining that "49" will be among the unforgettable works in Turkish cinematography, Polat said: "Nobody was injured. Although there were dangerous action scenes, nothing happened. Some minor accidents are likely to happen in the shooting of the TV series as well yet in this case, it was about the professionalism of the team."
