FESTIVAL ON WHEELS
ANKARA CINEMA ASSOCIATION: FESTIVAL OF EUROPEAN FILMS ON WHEELS
www.europeanfilmfestival.com -
ACA Once Again Produces Something Wonderful
The 9th Festival of European films was without doubt one of the two main cinema events of 2003 in Turkey, the other one being ?Distant? winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
While the viewers of commercial films barricade themselves in their homes watching pirate VCDs, whilst theaters remain vacant with the exception of a few blockbusters, whilst the new generation chooses ?cult? over culture, believing art to be the ?thing? presented to them by ?artists? visible in magazine programs, whilst all this happens, the Ankara Cinema Association once again produces something wonderful; the Festival of European Films, re-creating the miraculous event that we have witnessed for eight years, bigger, better, richer, at a time when hope is fading to nothing...
They have managed to let the love of cinema flourish within the people and especially the isolated youth of Anatolia. Diligently commiting themselves to their task of introducing people to real art and real cinema, they have now broadened the area of influence. We have watched a little seed of cinema flower in Bursa over the last 8 years, seeing it become a sapling and now a tree that no one would dare to cut down, and we have come to the conclusion that if it is let to continue, the festival will bear the same fruit in other cities. The grand tree planted in Bursa that has now etched the signature of the seventh art into the cultural identity of that city has given forth seeds, seeds that were planted this year in Kayseri, Malatya and Kars with the sensitive and able support of their local administrations.
Of course the example of Bursa is unique in Turkey. There, we have witnessed the education of viewers who have been directly introduced to the greatest masterpieces of cinema; they have learned slowly to accept them, maturing in their viewing so that they have come to expect high quality; now, for them, a lesser event would be unacceptable; the unforgettable scenes of the greatest of movies have come to be included in the mental image of Bursa.
For me Bursa now is not only a city where one can climb Uludag, visit tombs, eat Iskender Kebab, buy towels; it has become a city of culture where the best of cinema can be seen, and where cineastes meet; film-makers and critics and lovers of the art of cinema. From now on it is not only the old capital of the Ottoman Empire but one of the future capitals of cinema.
Alin Taşçiyan-Cinema Critic ? Milliyet
The Festival Has Been On The Road Since 9 Years
The Festival of European Films a.k.a. The Festival on Wheels continues to journey the Anatolia from end to end; its load never light, nevertheless extremely precious. The Festival neither goes out of fashion nor need maintenance during these voyages. Its idea is so original and it fulfills such an important gap in Turkeys Cultural environment, that it will preserve these properties for years to come.
The Festival appearing to ignore the Festival rich Istanbul, nonetheless stirs the envy of the viewers of Istanbul with its privileged program, encouraging them to join its journey. One of its most important stops is doubtless Bursa. With the warm reception of The Ankara Cinema Association and the Bursa Municipality, these annual days in Bursa have come to play an important role in out lives.
This year we, the critics of Istanbul, have come to experience the unique atmosphere of The Festival of European Films, in Bursa. The films presented to us were once again excellent and of great import. The ten best films in Turkish film history, selected through a survey, were once again presented on the wide screen to the audience. The effort to re-press these films and make their screening as a program at international festivals has come to be an important addition to the Turkish culture. The attraction of the retrospective of French New-Wave leading director Jean-Luc Godard, whose films are still cause of discourse, as well as the program made up of Aki Kaurismäki?s shorts have created an opportunity not to be missed.
With the Best of Europe section of the program we have been presented with a wide selection of masterpieces that ranged from the 40s to the present, from England to Finland. We have been thrilled by Carol Reed?s The Third Man, amused by Almadóvar?s Women on the verge of a Nervous Breakdown, mystified by Haneke?s 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. The most interesting examples of shorts of the current European cinema were presented within the Short is Good section of the Festival. It is important to stress the importance of the Festival in presenting the Turkish viewer with both short films and animation. The animation program made up by the selection of Sayoko Kinoshita, vise-president and director of the Hiroshima Animation Film Festival (who was one of the most colorful personalities of this year?s Festival) has presented the viewer with animations of utmost importance form Europe. In addition, the program made up of the films of the great Belgian animator Roul Servais has left us breathless. Apart from the films themselves, seeing and meeting the creator came to be an unforgettable experience.
Of Course the Festival does not forget the current works of the European Cinema. Within the ?Europe Europe? section we have been given the opportunity to watch some of the best, prize rich films that have journeyed from festival to festival. Patrice Leconte?s ?The Man on The Train?, Fernando León de Aranoa?s ?Sunny Mondays?, Dagur Kári?s ?Albino Noi?, Hans-Christian Schmid?s ?Distant Lights? and the stunning example of collective cinema from Norway ?Utopia? are some that come immediately to mind.
I do not believe it is necessary to once again stress the fact that the Festival of European Films manages to mesmerize us with its program every year, causing us to look forward to the next once it is over? we and the cinema lovers all over Anatolia are indebted to the festival organizers. Our lives will become more and more colorful thanks to their endless energy. Once again, thanks. Have a nice journey?
Engin Ertan Sinema Magazine
Festival On Wheels
As someone attending the Bursa branch of the Festival on Wheels for the first time (having attended the Izmir branch numerous times) I can not stress enough how pleased I was by the overall organization of the event. First I have to say that I have been to many festivals (Istanbul, Ankara, Thessaloniki etc.) but I have never encountered such a warm atmosphere in any of them. I realized that we cinema writers live quite estranged lives in Istanbul; everyone is in a hurry, living worlds apart. But during the festival at Bursa, we find the opportunity to get to know each other, chatting hours at a time, discussing cinema. Bursa becomes the location where we isolated critics can come together and collaborate. There is an incredible synergy, and the thorough organization of both the Bursa Culture Art and Tourism Foundation and The Ankara Cinema Association plays an important role in its creation. The members of these organizations do not seem to regard cinema critics as a burden, but as friends. I have never experienced such amicable treatment in any other festival. And, elsewhere, it is never as easy as this to interview guest actors and directors. Forget the interview, there is such a communal atmosphere that you experience the event as one with the guests and, at the many dinner parties, you can interact with the guests directly. As nobody is quite relaxed in an interview, I believe that this is highly important:- actually to be able to talk, to chat with a director after watching his film. This is exactly what Bursa offers. The organization is great, everything is well-coordinated, the schedule is set. The transportation between the accommodation and the Festival centre is excellent, the bus schedule quite on punctual target. If you miss the bus, as can happen to anyone (it did to me!), the Festival is quite understanding and even arranges for a car.
Thanks to the Festival in particular for the bags and t-shirts distributed upon our arrival in Bursa, I am still using them, and many thanks to the Ankara Cinema Association and The Bursa Culture Art Foundation, for giving us this wonderful festival. I look forward to the next year.
Firat Yucel . Altyazi Magazine
Survey of the Festival of European Films
Years ago when I habited to rest at the Otel Fahri in Uludağ st summers end; I never would have thought that Bursa would have come to play an important role in my cinema venture. However for nine years Bursa has become the city that witnesses my love for cinema. This is due to the satisfying program of the Festival of European Films and the warm hospitality of the Bursa Municipality.
That this year the attention of the viewers of Bursa to the Festival of European Films seems to have increased is an indication that the attempt of the Festival to cultivate a perceptive viewer has come to bear fruit. It would not be wrong to attribute the fact that the vacant theaters of the fist two years are now filled to the brim, to the viewers of Bursa having accepted European Films. Those who have watched these films that seldom get to be screened commercially, come to realize that cinema does not merely consist of American films, and that cinema plays an important role in European Culture. The program of the ninth Festival did a lot to verify this truth.
The chance to once again watch masterpieces of the Turkish Cinema such as; The Road, The Herd, Muhsin Bey, Innocence, The Woman With Red Scarf, Motherland Hotel, The Bride and Distant was a privilege. Another important part of the program was the retrospective of Jean-Luc Godard under the title of ?The Madman or Genius of Cinema?. I for myself have watched Breathless, Chinese Girl and Alphaville once again with exhilaration. And once again I could answer the question of whether Godard is mad or a genius, but I realized that my opinion that he should have been a litterateur instead of a cineaste was once again strengthened.
The films of Coral Reed, Ingmar Bergman, Claude Sautet, Bertrand Tavernier, Pedro Almodovar and Michael Haneke were presented within the ?Best of Europe? section. I do not doubt that watching one of these directors? films is an important event for passionate cinema viewers. For me one of the first surprises of the Festival was the shorts of Aki Kaurismaki. The five-six minute shorts of this great creator from Finland that implied at his features, was an incredible presentation for those who know the Kaurismaki Cinema. The second surprise of the Festival was the films of Raoul Servais, whose name I only knew from cinema books. The films of Raoul Servais, whose colorful person I had the opportunity to meet, are the most beautiful examples with their art and political content that it is possible to produce animation outside of Walt Disney perceptions. The ?Short is Good? and other parts of the program that present the films of young European directors, included quite precious surprises for the cinema lover<
I have had the opportunity to attend festivals, national and international, big scale and small, sometimes as a viewer, and sometimes as a jury member. I would not exaggerate if I stated that the reason for the special place of the Festival of European Films in my eyes is both its privileged program, and warm atmosphere of friendship created in Bursa, that I have never witnessed in another festival. If that were not the case I would not travel to Bursa with great enthusiasm and then return to Istanbul quite reluctantly every year.
Rekin Teksoy
A Journey to Turkey
At the European Coordination of Film Festivals annual conference in Brussels last year I met Wilhelm Faber of the Berlin Film Festival. When he found out I was Turkish, he said that as a student in Paris he?d seen a film that changed his life. It was after watching Sürü (The Herd), a film written by Yılmaz Güney and directed by Zeki Ökten, that he decided to work in cinema. And 20 years later he was working at the Berlin Film Festival. There are some films that have the power to change an individual, a city or even a country.
The 10 Best Turkish Films were determined in a poll carried out by the Ankara Cinema Association. They will have their first world screening at the 39th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The project has been a collaborative effort and in this respect I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Eva Zaoralova and Julietta Zacharova . I also wish to thank Erkan Mumcu, the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dr. Abdurrahman Çelik, General Director of the Copyright and Cinema Department of the Ministery of Culture and Tourism, Sema Fener, the marketing and sales manager EI - Kodak Turkey, Cemal Okan, the managing director of Fono Film Studio and Muzaffer Hiçdurmaz, chairman of the Turkish Association of Film Directors, for their valuable contributions to the project.
Since 1914, Turkey has generated some 6058 feature films. Of these, 4425 were made between 1960 and 1986. During the 1960s, in particular, cinema was the most popular form of entertainment in Turkey. To be part of a project that incorporates the 10 most important and memorable films of Turkish cinema history is a great honour for me. These films represent Turkish cinema at its very best and promise audiences a visual feast.
To watch films from one country in a condensed period of time is something like making a journey to that country. The audience learns about everyday life in that country, its customs, traditions and social problems when their previous knowledge was probably sketchy. They have the chance to gain a deeper insight into the country. Most foreigners who come to Turkey on business or for pleasure leave only with memories of Istanbul and Antalya, the Cappadocia region or sun-kissed beaches.
Now, however, you can head off to a small town in Anatolia and spend a few nights in The Motherland Hotel. The hotel is dark and dilapidated and the owner, Zebercet, a solitary, obsessive kind of guy. You?ll find him a little weird, but he?s basically harmless. He?s pinned his hopes on a mysterious woman, who stayed one night in the hotel. As she was leaving, she said she?d come back. And there he is waiting. After 110 minutes you?ll be saying goodbye to Zebercet, but you?re unlikely to forget him for quite some time.
In another cheap hotel - this time in Izmir - you?ll meet Yusuf, Uğur and Bekir, three hopeless characters created by Zeki Demirkubuz. Daunted by the outside world, Yusuf is reluctant to leave the prison he?s been in, even though his sentence is served. Bekir, bound to Uğur by a strange obsession, is heading slowly towards self-destruction. You may spot the poster for Charlie Chaplin?s The Kid in a shop window while Yusuf is out with Çilem, Uğur and Bekir?s deaf and dumb daughter. But don?t be fooled: Masumiyet(Innocence) is an unequivocal tragedy.
The Girl With The Red Scarf, played by Türkan Şoray, is another acquaintance you?ll make in small-town Anatolia. This is one of Turkish cinema?s greatest love stories and the work of master director, Atıf Yılmaz. Making his directorial debut in 1951, Yılmaz has put his name to 113 films to date and is still actively involved in film-making.
Should you be heading Adana way, don?t be shy of taking a ride in Cabbar?s cart. Both cart and horses may have seen better days, but climb aboard and you?ll be treated to a black and white masterpiece from 1970 that marked a turning point in Turkish cinema. And, like Yılmaz Güney?s father, you?ll find yourself embarking on a journey towards Hope.
Back in Istanbul, be sure to dive into the backstreets of Beyoğlu. There you?ll meet Muhsin Bey, an organizer in the music business who has never erred from the straight and narrow, never compromised on his principles. You?ll like him: he?s a little behind the times but a good-hearted and thoroughly scrupulous sort, who takes under his wing a young Anatolian with singing ambitions.
Perhaps you?ll also drop by at a tiny house on the fringes of Istanbul and witness the everyday struggles of a family who left Anatolia for the big city. Gelin (The Bride) takes up the theme of migration, a major part of people?s lives in Turkey, and gives a taste of the cinema of Lütfi Akad, another master director.
Did you ever get to see Yol(The Road) You remember the story of five prisoners released from jail on a week?s leave? And Tarık Akan in the role of Seyit Ali, as he trudges through an icy blizzard with his wife on his back, flogging her every now and then so she won?t get frostbite? I would defy any cinephile to remain unmoved by this masterpiece, which was written behind bars by Yılmaz Güney, directed by Şerif Gören and cut in Switzerland after Güney made his break from jail.
You might find the clan leader, Hamo Aga, a little disconcerting: of awesome appearance and booming voice, it?s almost as if he?ll step off the silver screen while he showers threats on the people around him. In Sürü(The Herd) Tuncel Kurtiz gives one of the finest performances in Turkish cinema, and you?ll find that the film has lost none of its potency even 25 years after the making.
You might also find yourself stumbling on a small Anatolian village and witnessing the remorseless struggle between two brothers, symbols of good and evil respectively. Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer) brought Turkish cinema its first international success, winning the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1964. The film is also an ideal opportunity to get to know Metin Erksan, one of Turkish cinema?s most original directors.
The final title in our line-up of the 10 Best Turkish Films is Uzak (Distant), a work by one of Turkish cinema?s leading representatives, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has one short film and three features to his name since he began directing in 1995. The film, which scooped both the Special Jury Award and the Best Actor Award (for its two lead actors) at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, is a study of loneliness and lack of communication in the big city set in a snow-draped Istanbul.
Welcome to Turkey..
Dr. Ahmet BoyacıoğluChairman, Ankara Cinema Association
www.europeanfilmfestival.com -
ACA Once Again Produces Something Wonderful
The 9th Festival of European films was without doubt one of the two main cinema events of 2003 in Turkey, the other one being ?Distant? winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
While the viewers of commercial films barricade themselves in their homes watching pirate VCDs, whilst theaters remain vacant with the exception of a few blockbusters, whilst the new generation chooses ?cult? over culture, believing art to be the ?thing? presented to them by ?artists? visible in magazine programs, whilst all this happens, the Ankara Cinema Association once again produces something wonderful; the Festival of European Films, re-creating the miraculous event that we have witnessed for eight years, bigger, better, richer, at a time when hope is fading to nothing...
They have managed to let the love of cinema flourish within the people and especially the isolated youth of Anatolia. Diligently commiting themselves to their task of introducing people to real art and real cinema, they have now broadened the area of influence. We have watched a little seed of cinema flower in Bursa over the last 8 years, seeing it become a sapling and now a tree that no one would dare to cut down, and we have come to the conclusion that if it is let to continue, the festival will bear the same fruit in other cities. The grand tree planted in Bursa that has now etched the signature of the seventh art into the cultural identity of that city has given forth seeds, seeds that were planted this year in Kayseri, Malatya and Kars with the sensitive and able support of their local administrations.
Of course the example of Bursa is unique in Turkey. There, we have witnessed the education of viewers who have been directly introduced to the greatest masterpieces of cinema; they have learned slowly to accept them, maturing in their viewing so that they have come to expect high quality; now, for them, a lesser event would be unacceptable; the unforgettable scenes of the greatest of movies have come to be included in the mental image of Bursa.
For me Bursa now is not only a city where one can climb Uludag, visit tombs, eat Iskender Kebab, buy towels; it has become a city of culture where the best of cinema can be seen, and where cineastes meet; film-makers and critics and lovers of the art of cinema. From now on it is not only the old capital of the Ottoman Empire but one of the future capitals of cinema.
Alin Taşçiyan-Cinema Critic ? Milliyet
The Festival Has Been On The Road Since 9 Years
The Festival of European Films a.k.a. The Festival on Wheels continues to journey the Anatolia from end to end; its load never light, nevertheless extremely precious. The Festival neither goes out of fashion nor need maintenance during these voyages. Its idea is so original and it fulfills such an important gap in Turkeys Cultural environment, that it will preserve these properties for years to come.
The Festival appearing to ignore the Festival rich Istanbul, nonetheless stirs the envy of the viewers of Istanbul with its privileged program, encouraging them to join its journey. One of its most important stops is doubtless Bursa. With the warm reception of The Ankara Cinema Association and the Bursa Municipality, these annual days in Bursa have come to play an important role in out lives.
This year we, the critics of Istanbul, have come to experience the unique atmosphere of The Festival of European Films, in Bursa. The films presented to us were once again excellent and of great import. The ten best films in Turkish film history, selected through a survey, were once again presented on the wide screen to the audience. The effort to re-press these films and make their screening as a program at international festivals has come to be an important addition to the Turkish culture. The attraction of the retrospective of French New-Wave leading director Jean-Luc Godard, whose films are still cause of discourse, as well as the program made up of Aki Kaurismäki?s shorts have created an opportunity not to be missed.
With the Best of Europe section of the program we have been presented with a wide selection of masterpieces that ranged from the 40s to the present, from England to Finland. We have been thrilled by Carol Reed?s The Third Man, amused by Almadóvar?s Women on the verge of a Nervous Breakdown, mystified by Haneke?s 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance. The most interesting examples of shorts of the current European cinema were presented within the Short is Good section of the Festival. It is important to stress the importance of the Festival in presenting the Turkish viewer with both short films and animation. The animation program made up by the selection of Sayoko Kinoshita, vise-president and director of the Hiroshima Animation Film Festival (who was one of the most colorful personalities of this year?s Festival) has presented the viewer with animations of utmost importance form Europe. In addition, the program made up of the films of the great Belgian animator Roul Servais has left us breathless. Apart from the films themselves, seeing and meeting the creator came to be an unforgettable experience.
Of Course the Festival does not forget the current works of the European Cinema. Within the ?Europe Europe? section we have been given the opportunity to watch some of the best, prize rich films that have journeyed from festival to festival. Patrice Leconte?s ?The Man on The Train?, Fernando León de Aranoa?s ?Sunny Mondays?, Dagur Kári?s ?Albino Noi?, Hans-Christian Schmid?s ?Distant Lights? and the stunning example of collective cinema from Norway ?Utopia? are some that come immediately to mind.
I do not believe it is necessary to once again stress the fact that the Festival of European Films manages to mesmerize us with its program every year, causing us to look forward to the next once it is over? we and the cinema lovers all over Anatolia are indebted to the festival organizers. Our lives will become more and more colorful thanks to their endless energy. Once again, thanks. Have a nice journey?
Engin Ertan Sinema Magazine
Festival On Wheels
As someone attending the Bursa branch of the Festival on Wheels for the first time (having attended the Izmir branch numerous times) I can not stress enough how pleased I was by the overall organization of the event. First I have to say that I have been to many festivals (Istanbul, Ankara, Thessaloniki etc.) but I have never encountered such a warm atmosphere in any of them. I realized that we cinema writers live quite estranged lives in Istanbul; everyone is in a hurry, living worlds apart. But during the festival at Bursa, we find the opportunity to get to know each other, chatting hours at a time, discussing cinema. Bursa becomes the location where we isolated critics can come together and collaborate. There is an incredible synergy, and the thorough organization of both the Bursa Culture Art and Tourism Foundation and The Ankara Cinema Association plays an important role in its creation. The members of these organizations do not seem to regard cinema critics as a burden, but as friends. I have never experienced such amicable treatment in any other festival. And, elsewhere, it is never as easy as this to interview guest actors and directors. Forget the interview, there is such a communal atmosphere that you experience the event as one with the guests and, at the many dinner parties, you can interact with the guests directly. As nobody is quite relaxed in an interview, I believe that this is highly important:- actually to be able to talk, to chat with a director after watching his film. This is exactly what Bursa offers. The organization is great, everything is well-coordinated, the schedule is set. The transportation between the accommodation and the Festival centre is excellent, the bus schedule quite on punctual target. If you miss the bus, as can happen to anyone (it did to me!), the Festival is quite understanding and even arranges for a car.
Thanks to the Festival in particular for the bags and t-shirts distributed upon our arrival in Bursa, I am still using them, and many thanks to the Ankara Cinema Association and The Bursa Culture Art Foundation, for giving us this wonderful festival. I look forward to the next year.
Firat Yucel . Altyazi Magazine
Survey of the Festival of European Films
Years ago when I habited to rest at the Otel Fahri in Uludağ st summers end; I never would have thought that Bursa would have come to play an important role in my cinema venture. However for nine years Bursa has become the city that witnesses my love for cinema. This is due to the satisfying program of the Festival of European Films and the warm hospitality of the Bursa Municipality.
That this year the attention of the viewers of Bursa to the Festival of European Films seems to have increased is an indication that the attempt of the Festival to cultivate a perceptive viewer has come to bear fruit. It would not be wrong to attribute the fact that the vacant theaters of the fist two years are now filled to the brim, to the viewers of Bursa having accepted European Films. Those who have watched these films that seldom get to be screened commercially, come to realize that cinema does not merely consist of American films, and that cinema plays an important role in European Culture. The program of the ninth Festival did a lot to verify this truth.
The chance to once again watch masterpieces of the Turkish Cinema such as; The Road, The Herd, Muhsin Bey, Innocence, The Woman With Red Scarf, Motherland Hotel, The Bride and Distant was a privilege. Another important part of the program was the retrospective of Jean-Luc Godard under the title of ?The Madman or Genius of Cinema?. I for myself have watched Breathless, Chinese Girl and Alphaville once again with exhilaration. And once again I could answer the question of whether Godard is mad or a genius, but I realized that my opinion that he should have been a litterateur instead of a cineaste was once again strengthened.
The films of Coral Reed, Ingmar Bergman, Claude Sautet, Bertrand Tavernier, Pedro Almodovar and Michael Haneke were presented within the ?Best of Europe? section. I do not doubt that watching one of these directors? films is an important event for passionate cinema viewers. For me one of the first surprises of the Festival was the shorts of Aki Kaurismaki. The five-six minute shorts of this great creator from Finland that implied at his features, was an incredible presentation for those who know the Kaurismaki Cinema. The second surprise of the Festival was the films of Raoul Servais, whose name I only knew from cinema books. The films of Raoul Servais, whose colorful person I had the opportunity to meet, are the most beautiful examples with their art and political content that it is possible to produce animation outside of Walt Disney perceptions. The ?Short is Good? and other parts of the program that present the films of young European directors, included quite precious surprises for the cinema lover<
I have had the opportunity to attend festivals, national and international, big scale and small, sometimes as a viewer, and sometimes as a jury member. I would not exaggerate if I stated that the reason for the special place of the Festival of European Films in my eyes is both its privileged program, and warm atmosphere of friendship created in Bursa, that I have never witnessed in another festival. If that were not the case I would not travel to Bursa with great enthusiasm and then return to Istanbul quite reluctantly every year.
Rekin Teksoy
A Journey to Turkey
At the European Coordination of Film Festivals annual conference in Brussels last year I met Wilhelm Faber of the Berlin Film Festival. When he found out I was Turkish, he said that as a student in Paris he?d seen a film that changed his life. It was after watching Sürü (The Herd), a film written by Yılmaz Güney and directed by Zeki Ökten, that he decided to work in cinema. And 20 years later he was working at the Berlin Film Festival. There are some films that have the power to change an individual, a city or even a country.
The 10 Best Turkish Films were determined in a poll carried out by the Ankara Cinema Association. They will have their first world screening at the 39th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The project has been a collaborative effort and in this respect I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Eva Zaoralova and Julietta Zacharova . I also wish to thank Erkan Mumcu, the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Dr. Abdurrahman Çelik, General Director of the Copyright and Cinema Department of the Ministery of Culture and Tourism, Sema Fener, the marketing and sales manager EI - Kodak Turkey, Cemal Okan, the managing director of Fono Film Studio and Muzaffer Hiçdurmaz, chairman of the Turkish Association of Film Directors, for their valuable contributions to the project.
Since 1914, Turkey has generated some 6058 feature films. Of these, 4425 were made between 1960 and 1986. During the 1960s, in particular, cinema was the most popular form of entertainment in Turkey. To be part of a project that incorporates the 10 most important and memorable films of Turkish cinema history is a great honour for me. These films represent Turkish cinema at its very best and promise audiences a visual feast.
To watch films from one country in a condensed period of time is something like making a journey to that country. The audience learns about everyday life in that country, its customs, traditions and social problems when their previous knowledge was probably sketchy. They have the chance to gain a deeper insight into the country. Most foreigners who come to Turkey on business or for pleasure leave only with memories of Istanbul and Antalya, the Cappadocia region or sun-kissed beaches.
Now, however, you can head off to a small town in Anatolia and spend a few nights in The Motherland Hotel. The hotel is dark and dilapidated and the owner, Zebercet, a solitary, obsessive kind of guy. You?ll find him a little weird, but he?s basically harmless. He?s pinned his hopes on a mysterious woman, who stayed one night in the hotel. As she was leaving, she said she?d come back. And there he is waiting. After 110 minutes you?ll be saying goodbye to Zebercet, but you?re unlikely to forget him for quite some time.
In another cheap hotel - this time in Izmir - you?ll meet Yusuf, Uğur and Bekir, three hopeless characters created by Zeki Demirkubuz. Daunted by the outside world, Yusuf is reluctant to leave the prison he?s been in, even though his sentence is served. Bekir, bound to Uğur by a strange obsession, is heading slowly towards self-destruction. You may spot the poster for Charlie Chaplin?s The Kid in a shop window while Yusuf is out with Çilem, Uğur and Bekir?s deaf and dumb daughter. But don?t be fooled: Masumiyet(Innocence) is an unequivocal tragedy.
The Girl With The Red Scarf, played by Türkan Şoray, is another acquaintance you?ll make in small-town Anatolia. This is one of Turkish cinema?s greatest love stories and the work of master director, Atıf Yılmaz. Making his directorial debut in 1951, Yılmaz has put his name to 113 films to date and is still actively involved in film-making.
Should you be heading Adana way, don?t be shy of taking a ride in Cabbar?s cart. Both cart and horses may have seen better days, but climb aboard and you?ll be treated to a black and white masterpiece from 1970 that marked a turning point in Turkish cinema. And, like Yılmaz Güney?s father, you?ll find yourself embarking on a journey towards Hope.
Back in Istanbul, be sure to dive into the backstreets of Beyoğlu. There you?ll meet Muhsin Bey, an organizer in the music business who has never erred from the straight and narrow, never compromised on his principles. You?ll like him: he?s a little behind the times but a good-hearted and thoroughly scrupulous sort, who takes under his wing a young Anatolian with singing ambitions.
Perhaps you?ll also drop by at a tiny house on the fringes of Istanbul and witness the everyday struggles of a family who left Anatolia for the big city. Gelin (The Bride) takes up the theme of migration, a major part of people?s lives in Turkey, and gives a taste of the cinema of Lütfi Akad, another master director.
Did you ever get to see Yol(The Road) You remember the story of five prisoners released from jail on a week?s leave? And Tarık Akan in the role of Seyit Ali, as he trudges through an icy blizzard with his wife on his back, flogging her every now and then so she won?t get frostbite? I would defy any cinephile to remain unmoved by this masterpiece, which was written behind bars by Yılmaz Güney, directed by Şerif Gören and cut in Switzerland after Güney made his break from jail.
You might find the clan leader, Hamo Aga, a little disconcerting: of awesome appearance and booming voice, it?s almost as if he?ll step off the silver screen while he showers threats on the people around him. In Sürü(The Herd) Tuncel Kurtiz gives one of the finest performances in Turkish cinema, and you?ll find that the film has lost none of its potency even 25 years after the making.
You might also find yourself stumbling on a small Anatolian village and witnessing the remorseless struggle between two brothers, symbols of good and evil respectively. Susuz Yaz (Dry Summer) brought Turkish cinema its first international success, winning the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1964. The film is also an ideal opportunity to get to know Metin Erksan, one of Turkish cinema?s most original directors.
The final title in our line-up of the 10 Best Turkish Films is Uzak (Distant), a work by one of Turkish cinema?s leading representatives, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who has one short film and three features to his name since he began directing in 1995. The film, which scooped both the Special Jury Award and the Best Actor Award (for its two lead actors) at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, is a study of loneliness and lack of communication in the big city set in a snow-draped Istanbul.
Welcome to Turkey..
Dr. Ahmet BoyacıoğluChairman, Ankara Cinema Association
posted by Mehmet Atasagun at 5:08 ÖS
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