Perfidious Byzantium (Kahpe Bizans) (translated)

Released on 21 January 2000, Kahpe Bizans ("Perfidious Byzantine") parodies the kitsch historical dramas of 1970s Yeşilçam as a Turkish comedy. Directed by Gani Müjde, who wrote the script with Kemal Kenan Ergen and Fatih Solmaz, it is a joint production of Özen Film, Arzu Film and Tükenmez Kalem. Over 2.5 million people saw it in Turkey, one of the highest-grossing films there.

The story begins with the Nacaroğlu clan, forced out of Australia by drought and kangaroo attacks, who follow a dog and find themselves in Anatolia under Byzantine rule. An oracle tells Emperor Illetyus (Mehmet Ali Erbil) that a child born that day will one day kill him, so he orders every newborn in the tribe slain. Süper Gazi (Sümer Tilmaç) asks his wife to take their children to safety, and she sets the triplets adrift on a river in three baskets. Years later, one sibling has grown up in the palace, one in the tribe and one on the river, each a hero of intrigues unknown to the others. The cast also includes Demet Şener (Emanuel), Ayşegül Aldinç (Teodora), Hande Ataizi, Cem Davran, Nurseli İdiz and Cem Karaca.

Uğur İçbak shot it; Mehmet Soyarslan and Ferdi Eğilmez produced it, with music by Uğur Dikmen, Mehmet Soyarslan and Cem Karaca.