Istanbul rules in coming seasons’ films
The Turkish film industry has been working tirelessly between the months of May through to September.
Despite the heat of summer and the hardships of Ramadan, filming is being going on in hotel rooms, on the streets and in the studios. In this new season for which about 60 new films have been prepared at a galloping pace, we know through bitter experience that only five or six films will please their producers while the remainder will be lost in theaters. Despite this bitter reality, the sector seems to have kept up the pace in recent years.
The most noteworthy aspect of the coming season’s films is the boom about İstanbul itself. Of course, there is nothing surprising about İstanbul being used as a setting for Turkish cinema. This has often been the case ever since the first Turkish film. Having been referred to in the title of a local movie in 2006, İstanbul has continued to assert its dominance over our cinema. Of course, the influence of the İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture (ECOC) Agency in this should also be acknowledged. Excluding the Indian movie “Mission Istanbul,” İstanbul has not appeared on movie posters since “Sevgilim İstanbul” directed by Seçkin Yaşar, although it has often had lots of exposure in the film frames. This time İstanbul will be the star in movie theaters not only with its scenery and locations but also with its name, its past and its present.
Here are the new season’s İstanbul films:
İstanbul Beni Unutma: Six young directors led by Hüseyin Karabey came together to shoot 15-minute short films that will make up this anthology, which is among the projects funded by the ECOC. The film opens with Aida Begic, the Bosnian director who made a remarkable debut with “Snow,” followed by Stefan Arsenijevic (Serbia), Stergios Niziris (Greece), Omar Shargawi (Denmark), Hany Abu-Assad (Palestine) and Eric Nazarian (USA), who will come to İstanbul to shoot their own stories about İstanbul. The film is reminiscent of the successful experiment “Anlat İstanbul,” for which five directors came together in 2004, as well as “Paris je t’aime” and “New York I Love You,” and is already attracting attention for these directors who have won acclaim with their earlier works.
Istanbul My Dream: It is yet another foreign look at İstanbul. Directed by Hungarian director Ferenc Török, this film brings two sorrowful characters together in İstanbul. Joanna Ter Steege, mostly known for her work with Hungarian director István Szabó,’ co-stars with Yavuz Bingöl. The producer of the film is Serkan Acar, who also produced “Sonbahar.” In “Istanbul My Dream,” İstanbul sets the scene for this story between a Hungarian woman and a local construction worker in their struggle to hold on to each other.
Fetih 1453: The concept that the conquest of İstanbul would make a great film -- which is frequently voiced by those who are most distant to cinema -- is finally making an inroad at movie theaters. Of course, its too early to tell how director Faruk Aksoy will emerge from this formidable project, however, Aksoy has raised audience expectations by saying, “I will not give anyone an excuse to scorn the film.” It is expected to make its debut in December.
Sultanın Sırrı: This film has already brought several Hollywood stars including Mark Dacascos and Emanuel Bettencourt to our country, and looks at İstanbul through the eyes of Dan Brown. The film directed Hakan Şahin and screen written by Ömer Erbil, elaborates on the legend that there are sacred relics belonging to Jesus hidden in a room beneath Çemberlitaş.
Saç: Following his debut at the Locarno Film Festival with “Pus” (Haze), Turkish film maker Tayfun Pirselimoğlu now tells the story of Hamdi, who makes his living with “hair” in Tarlabaşı. Rıza Akın and Nazan Kesal star in the film.
Vay Arkadaş-Manik, Tik, Dildo: This film is poised to dispel Pirselimoğlu’s misty atmosphere and is attention-grabbing with its strange title. In this action comedy, featuring Demet Evgar, Mete Horozoğlu, Fırat Tanış and Ali Atay, director Kemal Uzun takes the audience on a journey into the suburbs of İstanbul.
40: In this debut film, which has been awaiting cinema release since the last year’s Golden Orange Film Festival, Emre Şahin focuses on the experiences of immigrants in İstanbul. Audiences will have to make up their own mind as to whether it is İstanbul or the immigrants that set the background for this film.
Kösem Sultan:
For some, Kösem Sultan was the paragon of ambition who established the institution of bribery in Turkey. For others she was an intelligent mother who took control of the Ottoman state when it had been left in the hands of her young children after her husband died. The life of Kösem Sultan, who is always a subject of debate, is being made into a movie. The film, titled “Mahpeyker: Kösem Sultan,” written by Avni Özgürel and produced by Ayfer Özgürel, began filming at İstanbul’s Topkapı Palace in February. The film promises to provide a realistic portrait of Sultan Kösem that is different from anything that has been said about her before now. While indoor scenes are being shot near Gebze, outdoor scenes are being filmed at Topkapı Palace, Yedikule Zindanlari (Seven Tower Dungeons), the Haseki complex and Hünkar Kasrı. Damla Sönmez will play the young Kösem Sultan, while Selda Alkor will play Kösem Sultan at the age of 60. Gökhan Mumcu will star as Sultan Ahmet I, and the film will also feature Bonnie Ramirez, Mansur Ark, Suavi Eren, Selda Özer and Ayten Soykök.
First exhibition of İstanbul monumental tombs opens
A selection of items from the İstanbul Tomb Museum Directorate is currently on display at Topkapı Palace, revealing the richness of the monumental tombs that have been the resting places of sultans, statesmen and Islamic thinkers.
We live in an age where we have distanced ourselves from our deceased ancestors. Whereas we once had a culture where people lived with their deceased and even shared their sorrows and joys with them. There is a story of when a foreigner asked famous Turkish poet Yahya Kemal about the population of İstanbul and he replied, “80 million.” The foreigner objected, saying, “How is this possible?” The answer by the poet was thought provoking: “We live with our dead.”
The tombs of historic and spiritual figures currently showcased by the exhibition highlight the delicate art of the Ottomans. They are filled with artworks that reveal how these individuals and their followers saw the thin line between death and life.
The items, including coats, caps, prayer rugs, chandeliers, Qurans and royal decrees from the Ottoman period, were retrieved from storage by the İstanbul Museum of Shrines Directorate. In a joint effort by the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Governor’s Office of Istanbul with the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, this exhibition during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, titled “Gateways to Eternity: Shrines,” gathers unique pieces that had been kept in dusty chests for years at the Topkapı Palace Imperial Stables. The exhibition, featuring 120 pieces, is merely a drop in the sea, because thousands of other artifacts are waiting to be brought out of storage into the light of day.
‘Tombs must have a museum’
Culture and Tourism Ministry Undersecretary İsmet Yılmaz, İstanbul Culture and Tourism General Director Ahmet Emre Bilgili, İstanbul Müfti Mustafa Çağrıcı and director of the İstanbul Tomb Museum Directorate, Hayrullah Cengiz, were in attendance at the opening ceremony on Monday.
In his opening speech, Cengiz said, “Here we share only a small sample of the works that we have in our archives. We are both proud and sad about that. We would wish that all the pieces could be displayed for visitors in a museum. But until now the İstanbul Tomb Museum Directorate was unable to secure an exhibition space.” Bilgili also shared the same concerns during his address. The exhibition, curated by Serkan Nişancı, is set to run until Sept. 19.
Sultan’s secret to be revealed in December in new Turkish film | sultanahmet1.com
Sultan's Secret
A film supported by the European Capital of Culture Agency will reveal the secrets of Sultan Abdulhamit II. 'Sultanın Sırrı' ( The Secret of the Sultan ), directed by Hakan Şahin, has a budget of 4 million Turkish Liras and tells the story of an American professor who learns the secrets of the sultan and pursues his mysterious chest at Topkapı Palace
With a cast drawn from Hollywood and ambitions of showing Istanbul sights both known and unknown to an international audience, a Turkish production team is putting the finishing touches on “Sultanın Sırrı” (The Secret of the Sultan).
With support from the Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, the film, which has a budget of 4 million Turkish Liras, would showcase Istanbul locations, including Topkapı Palace, Yıldız Palace, the Istanbul Archaeology Museum and the Hagia Sophia, according to director Hakan Şahin.
“These are places known by the public,” Şahin said. “There are also ones that they don’t know. The set of the film’s final scene is underground tunnels. In this way, the audience will be able to see the places that they don’t have a chance to see.”
The film, which will be finished by December, will also be screened abroad, he said.
Şahin said the preparation process for the film with the producer and screenwriter Ömer Erbil took two years and added that they had wanted to include well-known Hollywood actors in their project, deciding to work with Emanuel Bettencourt and Marc Dacascos.
When asked about whether the film is intended to rival Ron Howard’s “The Da Vinci Code,” Şahin said: “It makes us proud to be compared to a big Hollywood production. But that film was a completely imaginary one, created by Dan Brown’s mind. But our story is real. This is our difference from the [Brown] film.”
‘Cinema not an industry in Turkey’
Turkey is still behind the United States and Europe in terms of its cinema, Şahin said.
“As cinema workers, we don’t even have a law [covering our work] here. We are a market only because we cannot become a sector, an industry. As the people of this market, we are trying to improve cinema,” he said.
“There are also serious initiations to make a law for cinema market. In this sense, producers have turned their eyes to world-renowned actors. Turkey has many actors like the ones in Hollywood, too. We have opened the doors. A Turkish director can work with an American actor just like an American director can work with a Turkish actor,” Şahin said.
Film dedicated to nephew
Dacascos said he recently came to Turkey but had not yet become involved in the film. “As far I see, this is a very professional film. There is a family atmosphere. They have made me feel at home.”
Bettencourt, tragically, said his nephew had died on the first day of the shooting.
“At first I did not know what to do but life goes on,” he said through tears. “I will spend all my energy for this film and dedicate this film to my nephew.”
Bettencourt said he was acting in a Turkish film for the first time and also expressed his pleasure at acting in a film with Dacascos once again after so many years.
Other actors in the film include Başak Daşman, Sinan Albayrak, Zeynep Beşerler, Şerif Sezer and Burak Sezer.
The film tells the story of an American professor, Carty Ciano, who learns the secrets of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II about crude oil. The professor comes to Istanbul and begins to work hard to find the sultan’s mysterious chest, kept in the depot of the Topkapı Palace Museum.
