LOCARNO, Switzerland — Turkish casting director Harika Uygur is the winner of the Locarno Film Festival’s European Casting Award for her work on the ensemble cast of “Mustang,” director Deniz Gamze Erguven’s foreign-language Oscar-nominated debut about five sisters contending with conservative mores in contemporary rural Turkey.

Chemistry between the mostly previously unknown talented young actresses — Elit Iscan, Gunes Nezihe Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Ilayda Akdogan, and Tugba Sunguroglu, who also look alike – is considered crucial to making “Mustang” a breakout hit.

Uygur (pictured), who is the founder of an acting studio in Istanbul this year, became a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She recently finished casting Iraqui-Kurdish director Hiner Saleem’s “Lady Winsley,” a French, Turkish, Belgian co-production.