The Story Of Turkish Cinema

Somehow one always associates Turkish cinema with old films of the kind that fans of foreign films scornfully dismiss.

Yet the same detractors will describe certain real-life events as 'just like a Turkish film', thereby unwittingly giving this phenomenon its backhanded due. Films about the War of Independence and its aftermath later made way for adaptations of western films. Village romances were for a time extremely popular, and then came plenty of 'rich boy falls in love with poor girl' films. Films on the theme of rural migration to the cities mirrored social change. Political cinema emerged for a while, and there were times when sex was all the rage. Then Turkish cinema managed to collect itself and break out of its shell, bringing numerous international awards. The story of Turkish cinema can now be seen at the Museum of Cinema and Television founded by the Türker İnanoğlu Foundation (Türvak).

Fragments of black and white films shown on the screen at the museum and the often familiar snatches of dialogue are strangely soothing, as if one was attending a course of 'cine-therapy'. On the enormous projector it writes 'American Century projector, 1940'. The 1970s Bosch film camera next to it belonged to Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. An early triple lens camera, a 1936 Pickard still camera used in the studios, and a large 1927 studio gramophone stand in the entrance. Frozen black and white frames on the walls seem to wait expectantly for the direct'stl call to set the cameras rolling. Scenes of the demolition of the Russian monument of Ayastefano in Yeşilköy in 1914 mark the beginning of Turkish cinema. This film was taken by Fuat Uzkınay, who trained under the Polish Jew Weinberg. Following the first phase, dominated by documentaries, came the so-called 'theatre period' of 1923-1939. This is commemorated in the gallery at the back of the museum, with a collection of tickets, notices, programmes and photographs belonging to the Municipal Theatres.

A corner is devoted to Muhsin Ertuğrul, whose contributions to Turkish cinema cannot be denied, although he is accused of forcing cinema into a theatrical mould. It was in one of his first films, Shirt of Fire, that Turkish women (Bedia Muvahhit and Neyyire Ertuğrul) acted in a film for the first time. The simultaneous recording of sound and image took place at this time. Which of the voices do you remember from those times? Behzat Butak, Şükriye May, Cahide Sonku, İsmail Dümbüllü, and Cahit Irgat, the latter also a poet. Smiling nostalgically at the portraits of bygone actors and actresses, I left this room.

When the museum was being established, people in every area of the film world and private collectors were asked to donate material of all kinds. In this way the museum acquired a library of around ten thousand Turkish and foreign cinema and television films, hundreds of documentaries, and 22,000 other items. One room is devoted to film cameras and similar equipment, including a Moviolo 16 mm synchronisation and editing table, the earliest 35 mm portable home

projector, a 17.5 magnetic sound recorder - one of the first in Turkey, a 1938 Pathe camera, and Muhsin Ertuğrul's first sound film camera. The years 1939 to 1950, coinciding with the Second World War and its aftermath, were a transition period for Turkish cinema. American and Egyptian films were widely shown, while Turkish directors like Faruk Kenç, Baha Gelenbevi, Turgut Demirağ, and Orhon M. Arıburnu struggled to keep Turkish cinema alive. The period from 1950 up to the 1970s saw the rise of cinema directors with their roots in the film world. Lütfi Akad endeavoured to release cinema from the grip of theatre, and in the 1960s directors like Metin Erksan, Atıf Yılmaz, Osman Seden, Memduh Ün and Halit Refiğ began to usher in a new era. Coinciding with the arrival of colour film, social upheaval gave rise to increasing problems, but these were offset by growth in international contacts and film competitions. In 1963 Metin Erksan's Waterless Summer won the Golden Bear at Berlin. 1971 was the year of Yılmaz Güney. Although 1975 saw an explosion in the number of films being produced, television

and the focus on sex undermined cinema audiences. Then we come to the recent past which all of us remember clearly, with directors like Zeki Ökten, Feyzi Tuna, Bilge Olgaç, Ertem Eğilmez, Ali Özgentürk, Şerif Gören, Ömer Kavur, Yavuz Özkan and Yavuz Turgul. The room devoted to film posters carries us from the days of black and white to colour, in a vivid journey through Turkish cinema history. Even for those who do not remember the films themselves, the posters touch a chord, bringing back the atmosphere of past decades on the silver screen.

* Can Kızıltan is a freelance writer.