Two weeks to film a short about 'conscience'

For the second year, the Hrant Dink Foundation is asking amateur and professional filmmakers to upload short films on ‘conscience.’ The Hürriyet Daily News talked to Films about Conscience project coordinator Dença Kartun about the project’s message

What is it like to be a lonely woman walking on a roadside, or to be a physically challenged person on a “normal” street? What is it like to be a little boy watching his father’s hand rise to strike a blow?

What is it like to be a young girl who dares to wear a headscarf in high school? To be a woman imprisoned in her own home, trying to survive perpetual violence? To be homosexual or transsexual in a world that imprisons sex and sexuality in sealed boxes?

These are some of the questions raised by Films About Conscience, a short film project being organized by the Hrant Dink Foundation for a second year that asks anyone with a camera to “take a look at the world through our conscience.”

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Film festivals celebrate once-censored films in Turkey

This year’s International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival will hand out awards cancelled three decades ago in two consecutive years. One, as a reaction to Censorship Committee. The other, because of a military coup. In another traveling event, US and Canadian cities get a taste of once-banned filmmaker Yılmaz Güney

The upcoming International Antalya Orange Film Festival, the biggest movie event in Turkey, in September will be a memorable one, and one that will literally rewrite history. The 48th Golden Oranges will have three national competitions for feature films this year. This year’s competition, and two that were never given.

In 1979, the festival was cancelled as a reaction to the Censorship Committee, and the next year, it coincided with the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. This year, the awards of three decades back, The Latecoming Golden Orange Awards, will be announced on Sept. 12, coinciding with the anniversary of the coup.

When the Censorship Committee decided to ban or cut three films back in 1979, Yavuz Pağda’s Yolcular (Passengers), Yavuz Özkan’s Demiryol and Ömer Kavur’s Yusuf ile Kenan (Yusuf and Kenan), all of the directors and producers competing that year withdrew from the competition.

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Turkish celebrities waking up to Twitter’s potential

Long-forgotten singer Hilal Cebeci’s ploy to become popular by sharing intimate pictures of herself through Twitter seems to have worked. Within days, thousands started following her on Twitter

Last month nobody remembered Hilal Cebeci, who hit the pop charts more than a decade ago. Today, she is one of the most popular names once again, thanks to a cleverly-planned social media attack.

Cebeci had little more than a handful of followers on Twitter, the micro-blogging platform, until she recently shared some revealing photos of herself with followers; one showed her in a nightgown, another pictured her wrapped in a towel just before taking a shower, and the final bomb revealed her with much less than a towel. Within days, thousands started following her on Twitter, and today Cebeci has nearly 300,000 followers.

It seems it wasn’t really a naive move to please her limited number of fans, but a more cleverly-devised ploy to increase her popularity – not unlike American model Adrianne Curry’s attempts to rescue herself from obscurity by sharing nude or semi-nude pictures of herself via Twitter. But Cebeci went a step further, showing glimpses of a social media strategy on her part by immediately giving her fans a name, Panpiş – not unlike Lady Gaga, who calls her fans Little Monsters. Now, Cebeci has more followers than Curry.

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Will the Oscar ever go to a Turkish film?

The release date for director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s ‘Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da’ (Once Upon A Time in Anatolia) has been moved to ensure eligibility for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars

Last week, newspapers and movie blogs ran a story on a change in the release date of director and writer Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Once Upon A Time in Anatolia). The winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival will now be released on Sept. 23.

Nearly two months to its new release, why was it such an important piece of news? Because the Oscar race has begun, even here in Turkey. For a film to be eligible for the Best Foreign Language Film in the Academy Awards, it needs to be screened at least one week in movie theaters throughout the year. And the deadline is Sept. 30. Hence the rush, hence the news value.

Turkey has been working toward being one of the contenders of the Best Foreign Language Film race since 1964. To no avail. The closest a Turkish film has come to being nominated was back in 2008 when Üç Maymun (Three Monkeys), again by Ceylan, was among the shortlist of nine films, eventually not making it to the five nominated movies.

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