London 2012: What's in it for the locals?

Come 9 September, London will have closed its curtains both for the Olympic and the Paralympic Games. But what has it meant for those living around the area where the Olympic Park was built, and most importantly, what will it mean in the aftermath of the Games?

We have seen London write history in the modern Olympics as it became the first city to have hosted the Games three times, previously in 1908 and 1948, the second time after a long pause in the Olympics in the aftermath of the World War II. The iconic sporting event, coupled with the Cultural Olympiad that is the London 2012 Festival, has put its mark on 2012 as the biggest global event of this year.

But perhaps, the real impact of the Games for the British, more specifically the Londoners, will have to bear the test of time. Whether Prime Minister’s aspiration for the Olympic legacy will come true: “Make sure the Olympics legacy lifts East London from being one of the poorest parts of the country to one that shares fully in the capital’s growth and prosperity.”

Seven years ago last month, London was announced as the host of the 2012 Summer Olympics, beating Paris in a close race. The celebrations might have been cut short in the 7/7 bombings the next day, but one of the UK’s biggest redevelopment and regeneration projects began full swing.

Along with hosting the greatest sporting event of modern history, the UK conceived the Olympic Games as an opportunity to bring East London out of its notorious economic deprivation, the 11th poorest area in the UK. Money has been pouring into the East London borough of Newham, where the Olympic Park was built over a land between Hackney Wick and Stratford, as well as the boroughs that border the Park, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Greenwich and Waltham Forest.

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Controversy starts early at Golden Oranges

As is the custom with Turkey’s biggest cinema event, the Golden Orange Film Festival, controversy around the national competition has begun taking the media by storm. This time, the contention has started early

What’s Turkey’s biggest cinema event, the Golden Orange Film Festival, without the anticipated controversy? There might be two months left until the festival kicks off in October, but the heat came early this year with the announcement of the jury for the national competition last week.

Cinema, competition and controversy have been running hand in hand in the southern province of Antalya almost every autumn for half a century now. The biggest cinema event in Turkey has been mocked and praised and courted and shunned for varying reasons throughout the course of its history.

But the true controversy has always centered on the national competition. Since the early days of the festival, the category has been much more than a competition. The selection of the films, the selection of the jury and the handing out of the awards, together with their aftermath, have always managed to steal the headlines away from any celebration of cinema.

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London 2012: A celebration of history and an ode to a changing world

It was a proud fortnight for Britain and for London, showing to the world that the Olympic Games is much more than sports and competition. London 2012 Summer Olympics was a celebration of diversity, equality, team spirit, fair play, and Western Civilisation when at its best. It was the Games that wrote history in many respects, most memorable perhaps for women athletes.

“Didn’t we do well!” screamed the front page headline of the UK’s Daily Express the day after the Closing Ceremony of London 2012 Summer Olympics. “The Games brought out much that is best in this country,” wrote The Guardian. “They allowed us a golden glimpse of a nation that celebrates men and women with equal awe, and embraces British athletes of all racial backgrounds,” continued the story.

The London 2012 Summer Olympics was an ode to the Olympic spirit, to fair play, to a changing world, and to a changing Britain. It brought together athletes young enough to care equally for Justin Bieber and a gold medal, andold enough to remember the tragic 1972 Munich Olympics. It brought together countries that filled a whole apartment in the Olympic village, with those that had no country to compete for. It brought people of all race, all religion, andall colour.

London 2012 showed to the world that the iconic sporting event is a team effort, continually acknowledging the colossal contribution of the 70 thousand volunteers throughout the Games. It was a historic Games in many respects. It was the Games where women shined equally with men, some of them representing their countries for the first time in their history. It was the “first social media Olympics,” as put by the International Olympic Committee. 150 million Tweets were sent during the Games, Usain Bolt breaking another record with his 1.3 million followers.

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Turkish films shine in Venice line-up

Absent at the Venice International Film Fest for two decades, Turkish cinema has become a regular fixture in the festival over the last four years. This year’s line up includes three movies from Turkish filmmakers Here’s a look at the journey of Turkish cinema in Venice over the past four years

With less than a month before the 69th Venice International Film Festival kicks off, the line-up has been announced, surprising moviegoers with only a few of the expected overlaps with the Toronto Film Festival. The festival will open with The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mira Nair, one of the 20 female directors who are going to be debuting their work this year.

The list of films to be screened at the festival came as good news for Turkey, with internationally-acclaimed female director Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s Araf (Somewhere in Between) included into the Orrizonti (Horizons) section, and director Ali Aydın’s debut feature Küf (Mold) competing for the Lion of the Future award, an award won two years ago by another Turkish director’s debut feature, Seren Yüce’s Çoğunluk (Majority).

The inclusion of the two films in the line-up made headlines last weekend, but there was another success story by two other Turkish filmmakers. One of the films to be screened in the Giornate degli Autori (Venice Days) section of the festival is Inheritance, a joint production between Israel, France and Turkey. The film is the directorial debut of Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass, renowned for her roles in such films as Satin Rouge, Dawn of the World, and Amreeka. The two Turkish names from among the producers are Faruk Özerten and Ender Sevim. Özerten has channeled his skills to producing after having worked in the U.S. as an assistant director and a producer for one of the episodes of the short-lived TV series Missing, starring Ashley Judd.

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