!f 2011: Fantastik Filmler’de sınır yok

“All great films, without exception, contain an element of ‘no reason’” Lastik/Rubber

!f Istanbul’un Fantastik Filmler’i hayal gücünün sınırlarını zorlamaya devam ediyor. Canlanan nesneler, alışık olmadığımız türden psikanaliz seansları, son model animasyon teknolojileri, dünyayı işgale hazırlanan uzaylılar, uzayda hayat arayan insanlar hepsi bu senenin altı Fantastik Filmi’nde.

Tamamen iki farklı zevke hitap eden ama benzer uçukluktaki iki animasyon televizyondan sinemaya yolculuklarında !f izleyicileriyle buluşuyor. Kankalar’ın Lascarları, yaz tatillerini uyuşturucu satmanın en havalı iş olduğu, Paris’in gettolarından birinde geçiriyorlar. Bu özgün Fransız animasyonu abartılı 2D karakterleri 3D arka plan ve efektlerle birleştiriyor, üstüne de klasik hip hop şarkılarıyla dolu bir soundtrack ekliyor. Popüler bir televizyon dizisinden uyarlanan bir başka animasyon Gintama’da geleneksel ve futuristik bir Japonya iç içe geçiyor. Filmin kahramanı Gintoki Sakata savaşçı Samuray ruhunu kuşanarak, geçmişle gelecek arasında bir yerlerde uzaylı Amantolarla savaşıyor.

Yazının devamı !f Blog'da

A little bit of Sundance comes to Istanbul for !f

Turkey’s one and only independent international film festival, !f Istanbul, kicks off next Thursday. To mark its 10th year, the festival is collaborating with the renowned Sundance Institute with nine film screenings, a screenwriting panel, a panel on Sundance Lab, an interactive case study on how the full circle of the Institute works, as well as hosting some of the films' directors

The mecca of independent filmmaking and alternative cinema, the one and only Sundance Institute is leaving the chilling cold of Utah for 10 days and flying you to Istanbul for a dream collaboration for many. The !f Istanbul AFM International Independent Films Festival kicks off this Thursday with a selection of films bigger and richer than ever.

!f Istanbul (and the subsequent !f Ankara) has always been much more than a 10-day fest of film screenings. The changing world order, human rights and new media have always been reflected in !f’s collection of cutting-edge cinema, screened under such sections like Fix the World, Rainbow Films, and the Opening, inspired by the government’s efforts to offer a solution to the long-standing Kurdish conflict in Southeast Turkey.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)

Kurdish films featured at !f in Istanbul

Last year's popular section 'The Opening' continues at this year's !f AFM International Independent Film Festival. The section features four Kurdish movies, one classic and three contemporary films on love, loss, conflict and what it means to be a woman during wartime

Four Kurdish films, one classic movie and three contemporary ones on love, loss, conflict and what it means to be a woman during wartime, are being screened at this year’s !f AFM International Independent Film Festival.

The films make up a special section called The Opening, which debuted at last year’s festival to a popular response.

“We are motivated by a belief in the power of film to tell very human stories. People need to hear each other, and to get to know one another, to make a lasting peace possible,” festival co-director Serra Ciliv said of the selection of films to be screened under the category.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)

Pop culture in Turkey pushes the nation's buttons once again

Pop culture continues to bring out the nation's sensitivities, or, more likely, insecurities. Controversy is sparked by a TV series showing Sultan Süleyman courting women in the harem rather than conquering the known world, and by a comic book showing a young Atatürk beaten by his superior in the military. Both are accused of tarnishing Turkey's history. But when it comes to the ultra-nationalistic, ultra-violent movie 'Valley of the Wolves: Palestine,' there's no reaction

Turkey is the best country in the world, Turkish history is solely an epic collection of glorious victories and Turks are the greatest people to have ever graced the earth. If these are the messages in your film, TV show or comic book, you are good to go.

But if, by any chance, that same work is seen as tarnishing the image or history of Turkey, you are likely to find an army of sensitive citizens, fanatic ideologues and statesmen (and stateswomen) more than happy to lynch you.

Pop culture tested the limits of national sensitivities in January, with a TV series, a film and a comic book roiling the waters of a nation insecure, intolerant and, at times, paranoid about its identity and how it is perceived by others.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)

Sinan Çetin's 'Paper' doesn't cut too deep

Filmmaker, movie mogul, commercial powerhouse and larger-than-life public persona Sinan Çetin has taken a break from making ads to return to the silver screen with ‘Kağıt’ (Paper), a not-so-subtle autobiographical metaphor about one man fighting bureaucracy to make a film. ‘Kağıt’ is the latest testament to Çetin’s contradictory stance toward the state


It would be unfair to call Sinan Çetin just a filmmaker, despite the broadness of the term. He has remained a hovering presence over Turkey’s pop culture for two decades whether he makes movies or, as is generally the case, does not. Çetin is a persona who is much larger than the sum of his parts.

It’s a rule of thumb that nearly all popular figures generate their unique brand of devoted fans and followers, along with haters of a similar fervor. With Çetin, the number of fans and followers has diminished and are arrayed against an impressive number of detractors that include other filmmakers, movie critics and viewers.

The director, however, has chosen to show the finger to anyone who deigns to tarnish his work and his persona and has managed to maintain his position in Turkey’s culture scene and his currency among the artistic elite.

Click here for full article (Hürriyet Daily News)