TURKISH CINEMA ROUND TABLE
The Turkish film industry, one of the most powerful ones around the Balkan area, was the main theme of discussion during the round table discussion that took place on Friday, November 21st in the context of the contemporary Turkish cinema tribute of the Balkan Survey.
Turkish director Dervis Zaim spoke about the Turkish film history, going back to the commercial films of the 60’s, the emergence of political cinema with Yilmaz Guney as its main representative and ending with the renaissance of the Turkish productions during the 90’s and the work of contemporary talented directors that travel to international film festivals, winning awards and attracting the audience’s attention.
Dervis Zaim also mentioned, that although he is hopeful for Turkey’s film production future, he is worried about the limited financing support from the state and the expensive taxes that makes it difficult to collaborate with foreign co-producers.
Zeno Panagiotidis, one of the major distributors of Turkish films in Greece, stressed that despite the tough circumstances of Turkish reality as far as film production is concerned - poor financial support, lack of film education, censorship- Turkish directors have managed to be noticed abroad and take part in film festivals winning awards and turning Turkish art house cinema into a universal trend. ‘On one side, I see Turkish cinema flourishing, participating in festivals and winning awards and on the other side, I see Greece being absent’, he pointed out.
Film critic Ninos-Fenek Mikelidis described as positive the fact that a film industry like the Turkish one stands as a counterbalance to the American one. ‘The new Turkish generation is a dynamic one and has things to say. In fact, we were almost certain that Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s film Three Monkeys would win the Golden Phoenix Award in Cannes this year’.
Alin Tasciyan, film critic and a collaborator of Istanbul’s Film Festival, described Turkish cinema as a ‘personal’ one rather than a ‘national’ one, since it consists of independent low-budget productions for which actors usually don’t get paid or receive a symbolic amount of money. New directors often lend their cameras to their fellow directors, share the co-producers among them, and co–operate with each other, and also can count on the older and renowned generation’s support. ‘After the 1986 coup film production stopped; everybody was saying that Turkish cinema wad dead. The 90’s generation reacted to that idea and proved that even when money is hard to find, there is always a way to express yourself. They acted as if they were autonomous guerilla fighters going against censorship and commercial trends’, noted Mrs. Tasciyan and went on by saying that this renaissance of Turkish cinema resulted in the formation of a new generation of film critics and distributors.
Turkish film critic Necati Sonmez said that last year has been an amazing one for the Turkish film industry, as far as the number of films that took part in foreign festivals and the awards they won are concerned. ‘First time directors went hand by hand with the renowned ones of the 90’s to festivals’, said Mr. Sonmez and added that the new generation of directors is a luckier one as they can obtain a financial support, even if it is a small one, and because they know how to establish relationships with co-producers’.
