Interview with Inan Temelkuran – Part 4 (final)

Posted: November 25, 2011 by tfc in interview
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Inan Temelkuran Turkish filmmaker Inan Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1976. He studied film making in Spain after he recieved his degree in law in Ankara. He is the director, writer and producer of the award-winning films Made in Europe and Bornova Bornova, both of which are part of TurkishFilmChannel catalog.

We recently sat down with him in Istanbul and talked about many things over the course of an hour. This is Part 4 (final part) of our interview. Here are Part 1 and Part 2 and Part3.

Interview with Inan Temelkuran

 

TFC: Which films shook you up?

IT: So many!  Bogdanovich’s  The Last Picture Show. Eric Zonca’s The Little Thief and The Dreamlife of Angels. Michael Winterbottom films such as In This World, which was about two Afghani boys’ trip from Afghanistan to England. Micheal Haneke’s Code Unknown. Mathieu Kassovitz’ Hate.

TFC: Are you influenced by Turkish cinema?

IT: I do not much have influence. I like some people and their work. They do a good job. Possibly the one most affected me is Kader (Fate) of Zeki Demirkubuz. It is his best movie. It is the kind of movie that made me think like ‘this is something I would like to do’. Also, Three Monkeys of Nuri Bilge Ceylan. It is his best movie. He is collaborating with his wife and Dr Ercan Kesal, a famous doctor, who gives him many stories.

TFC: With both feature films you received awards. How does that feel?

IT: Awards mean money to some extent. They make you feel like the family father, who puts bread on the table. Of course the awards encourage you to make new films. The main reason somebody becomes a filmmaker, I think, because he loves movies and he is a movie watcher. I watch every kind of movie and take something from all. Cinema has its things. When Brubaker gets out of jail everybody claps and you feel something. That kind of things make cinema great.  You never get of the theater like that. You may get out super impressed, but cinema is different. You may hate that aspect also, if movie makes you feel empty. A film may give you relaxation, separate you from real life. My two movies are the kind of ones which will bother you.

TFC: Can you tell us about your next project?

IT: It is a big time feel-good movie. First Turkish rock band movie about a band which has to go a tour in Turkey. They lose their sponsors, because they say something stupid. But they still go ahead with the journey and they run into a big adventure. It will be a fun movie.

TFC: What are your thoughts on piracy?

IT: What can I say? Once they produced CD copiers, piracy started. And with Internet, who doesn’t download or watch music videos on YouTube? Sometimes you think about a song from your childhood. The kind of music you can’t find at the store, and you find it on YouTube.

TFC: Impact of internet on film industry?

IT: Technology brings opportunities for creators and consumers. Will the artist be able to make a living out of art? I doubt it. They have to do something else. They have to make a living on something else, and make art at the same time. Such as the artist Futura, who works for Sony and Apple, but also does graffiti on the walls.

TFC: Do you consider yourself as an independent filmmaker?

IT: Yes, but independence is per movie. It is something to be talked about per movie. Of course it can be for whole life. For me independence is possible in two ways. One, you don’t have money so you produce it yourself. Two, you have the freedom to choose your language for the movie. If it is not common language, that makes you independent. People in Chicago Movement were independent because of language. John Cassavetes’ film Shadows, 1930ies from French directors were like that. Lusi Bunuel’s Andalucían Dog is a great example of being independent. He made it with money from his mom; the film was shown in a cafeteria. And it became a milestone in history of cinema.

TFC: And took place in history…

IT: There are people like Fritz Lang, Charlie Chaplin. They produced real piece of art. Also some people are in history because they were at the right place at the right time.

TFC: How about you and history?

IT: It is not in my hands. But with festivals I’m now part of history. There has been no immigrant movie like Made in Europe. Only there was this one about Polish workers which was kind of similar.

Bornova Bornova can be an example of zeitgeist of these times in future. It is already cited in sociological research. I made a good job with both.

TFC: Thank you for your time.

IT: Thank you for fighting piracy.

 THE END

Part 1 of this interview

Part 2 of this interview

Part 3 of this interview

Interview with Inan Temelkuran – Part 3

Posted: October 29, 2011 by tfc in interview
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Inan Temelkuran Turkish filmmaker Inan Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1976. He studied film making in Spain after he recieved his degree in law in Ankara. He is the director, writer and producer of the award-winning films Made in Europe and Bornova Bornova, both of which are part of TurkishFilmChannel catalog.

We recently sat down with him in Istanbul and talked about many things over the course of an hour. This is Part 3 of our interview. Here are Part 1 and Part 2.

Interview with Inan Temelkuran

TFC: Looking back, what would you have done differently in Bornova Bornova? 

IT: There were 3-4 scripts of Bornova Bornova. I believe film is a visual art, and theoretically I find that movie wrong. But there are cases certain type of people can be portrayed in certain ways. These guys [characters in Bornova Bornova] exist in Turkey; they sit in front of the grocery store and talk all day. So if I’m going to make a movie about such guys, I have to make them talk a lot. In my neighborhood in Ankara there were such guys. I lived there for 4 years, and during 4 years those guys have not moved. I’m sure they are still there. They were bullshitting about things. They didn’t move a finger but did complain all the time. If you ask me “who were you in the movie?”, I was the long hair guy who passes by avoiding conflict with those guys. I didn’t talk to them, I was threatened. They have just enough income to make a living so they don’t work. They think they are smart and everybody else is stupid.

TFC: How did you come up with realistic dialogs if you weren’t part of their circle?

IT: I heard them talking. I know about such people from my childhood. Writing a realistic dialogue, using what you heard, what you know, what you want to tell in a dramatic way, it is like a puzzle, it is like editing. In a way editing a film begins before shooting.  I know such people. I created characters based on people that I knew. You sometimes take an attitude. And attitude brings words. Then you edit it. That’s how it is.

TFC: Opening scene of Bornova Bornova has a kid punching a duck. What was that about?

IT: It is something personal. I didn’t explain it at the time, but later I explained it. After the coup d’etat of 1980 in Turkey, the leading army general became president. During his presidency he went to China, ate a duck and because he liked it, they brought Beijing ducks from China. They placed them in parks in Turkey. One such park was in Bornova [a neighborhood in city of Izmir]. People stole the ducks to eat them. One day my mom told me about a kid from orphanage punching a duck which was hanged upside down. For me, it was the symbol of coup d’etat of 1980. It is a duck, and somebody is punching it, and that somebody is a kid. Why? It is hard to think.

TFC: Can we draw parallels between that kid and characters in the film?

IT: Like the kid, all characters are angry. The movie is full of anger. Those guys think they deserve better. Why? What did you do? Nothing! Everybody is saying ‘I deserve better’ in this movie.

[to be continued...]

Part 1 of this interview

Part 2 of this interview

 

 

 

Laleli’de Bir Azize kısa bir süre için ücretsiz

Posted: October 21, 2011 by tfc in Announcements
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Kudret Sabancı’nın yönettiği Laleli’de Bir Azize filmi kısa bir süreliğine reklam desteği ile ücretsiz olarak YouTube’da. Lütfen seyir deneyiminize dair yazın bize. İyi eğlenceler!

İstanbul’un arka sokaklarında yasadışı işler çeviren ve kadın pazarlamaya çalışan üç arkadaş, patronlarından gizli olarak kendi çıkarlarına iş yapmaya kalkarlar. Romen bir hayat kadınını bakire diye tanıtarak bir “müşteriye” götürürlerken, karşılaştıkları dört adamın gaspına uğrarlar. Hem paraları hem kadın ellerinden gitmiştir. Daha sonra kadını dövülmüş olarak bulduklarında bunu yapanlardan intikam almaya kalkacaklardır ama.. (Kaynak: vikipedi)

Yönetmen: Kudret Sabancı

Oyuncular: Güven Kıraç, Istar Göksever, Cengiz Küçükayvaz, Ella Manea

 

 

Interview with Inan Temelkuran – Part 2

Posted: October 17, 2011 by tfc in interview
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Inan Temelkuran Turkish filmmaker Inan Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1976. He studied film making in Spain after he recieved his degree in law in Ankara. He is the director, writer and producer of the award-winning films Made in Europe and Bornova Bornova, both of which are part of TurkishFilmChannel catalog.

We recently sat down with him in Istanbul and talked about many things over the course of an hour. This is Part 2 of our interview. For Part 1 here is your link.

Interview with Inan Temelkuran

TFC: In Made in Europe you told stories of immigrants. Where did the idea come from?

IT: I spent 5 years in Spain. I was working in kebab shops in Spain while studying film making. I lived with immigrants. While I was living with those guys, I witnessed some dialogs and phycology, which were different than any other thing I had seen before in my life, and different than any other immigrant movie had contained. Typical immigrant movies are all same about a big family, a girl wants to get married but there is a conflict between 1st and 2nd generation, integration issues, and drug mafias, should-we-go-back-or-stay questions. Bullshit! That existed in 70ies and 80ies for Turkish immigrants.

But there is this new thing; millions are immigrating seeking a better life, people always migrate, but phycology is very different. There are lots of factors. For example Turkish boss in Germany is the real exploiter of Turkish workers, but you don’t see that in those movies. Friendship takes a form in a different way in Europe. For example, same curse words that can cause murder in Turkey won’t have same affect in Europe because they need each other. There is a different form of kinship.

Definition of being man changes for immigrants in Europe. In Turkey it is about taking care of family, being strong, and honor. There a man’s honor is constantly crittered and he has to live with it. And their weird relationship with women and with immigrants from other countries is another aspect. Turkish people with their own inferiority & superiority complexes compare themselves with other immigrants and think they deserve better. When they see a beautiful Spanish girl with an Arab guy, they question why. They think ‘the girl should be with me not that stupid guy’.

 

 

TFC: Will you consider going back to immigrant stories?

IT: I did a pretty good job with Made in Europe. Maybe 10 years later. I would like to see where they get with their lives.

TFC: Looking back, what would you have done differently in Made in Europe?

IT: I didn’t have any money, and money means time. If I went to a location for one night, I had only one night to finish the scene. Due to budget and time limitations, sometimes you have to accept even though you know it is not good enough. If we had money; there is this scene in an antique shop where a chandelier falls, and it should have been a bigger chandelier. On the other hand I’m asking myself ‘is my movie about that or psychology of people’? It is about the latter, so small chandelier doesn’t bother me much. But it would have been a better scene with a bigger chandelier.

[to be continued...]

Part 1 of this interview

Turkish films on Youtube Rentals

Posted: October 9, 2011 by tfc in Announcements
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Youtube entered movie rental business in 2010 and introduced Youtube Rentals. Films were available to rent only in US and Canada. Many people are still not used to paying for content on Youtube but clearly that is not stopping them. Recently they did expand their business to cover UK. As TurkishFilmChannel we have some of our films available for rent on this fine service on our channel.

Bornova Bornova directed by Inan Temelkuran

Yazgi (Fate) directed by Zeki Demirkubuz

 Ac Kurtlar (Hungry Wolves) directed by Yilmaz Guney

Interview with Inan Temelkuran – Part 1

Posted: September 26, 2011 by tfc in interview
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Inan Temelkuran Turkish filmmaker Inan Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1976. He studied film making in Spain after he recieved his degree in law in Ankara. He is the director, writer and producer of the award-winning films Made in Europe and Bornova Bornova, both of which are part of TurkishFilmChannel catalog.

We recently sat down with him in Istanbul and talked about many things over the course of an hour. This is Part 1 of our interview.

Interview with Inan Temelkuran

TurkishFilmChannel: You studied law, and then you moved to Spain and became a filmmaker. Can you tell us about the process?

Inan Temelkuran: I always wanted to be a filmmaker, since I was 13. There were only 3 film schools and not enough jobs for graduates.  And my parents wanted me to study a “real major” first, and then do whatever I wanted. My father is a lawyer so I studied law. After graduating from law school in Ankara, I moved to Spain on a research scholarship to study “Franco era popular Spanish films”. After 9 months, I came back to Turkey and moved back to Spain this time to study filmmaking in TAI film school (Workshop of Scenery Arts). It is the first film school of Spain and professors were quite famous. That’s where I studied film making.

TFC: What was the impact of studying filmmaking in Spain?

IT: Where you live affects even the way you would take a picture of your friend. One should take care of photography in a way that it adds to the story, not just to make it beautiful. Also, the discipline in TAI school meant we had to find ways to make films with zero-budget. So you had to be creative, fast and organized. Professors had their own esthetic way of seeing the world. And that leaves a stigma on you.

TFC: How could you make a film with zero-budget?

IT: With volunteers. If you get a camera from a friend, sound equipment from another friend, and find actors, you are practically done. These are the three basic things. You can make a movie as long as you have actors, camera and sound equipment.

If you want to make a believable movie, you need to create place and time. So you find the most representative place and show it in a way that it creates a space. For example, if I show thrown-away pants on a chair, with a dirty picture on the wall, dirty floor and sound from a squeaky bed those will give you the impression of a hooker and a man. I just showed four items, and it created the time and the space. You don’t need a lot of money to do that. You need to take it in an intelligent way. And find most representative things of what you want to tell according to the feeling you want to pass to the audience.

TFC: How did you make Made in Europe with zero-budget in 4 different locations?

IT: I had friends in all cities and they helped me. Getting help from volunteers and friends, staying at cheap places, using cheap things were the keys. I wasn’t paying the actors. They wanted to join because they wanted to become part of an interesting movie. And their bonus was travelling to those cities.

Still it required some money because of transportation. I made educational videos for big companies to make enough money to buy plane tickets and food for the actors, and some necessary spending such renting a location when I had to.

[to be continued...]

What if the salt stinks?

Posted: August 23, 2011 by tfc in Announcements
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You’d salt the meat when it stinks… what if the salt stinks?

In the midst of a night, an unexpected ferryboat approaches to the shores of a cute little town. On the deck, an inspector and his assistant – two highly commissioned authorities only assigned to very fragile cases concerning the government, scan the town from a distance.

Murky Waters, is the director’s first long feature. Turkish filmmaker Dersu Yavuz Altun, who has been awarded many times for his short features, attempts a rather non-exploited cinema style in Turkey, Film Noir; and tries to establish his feature in this kind of a cinematographic language. The director of photography is the famous İlker Berke, who has also worked in “Boats out of Watermelon Rinds”. The music of the film is created by Tolga Burkay, who has very quietly and unobtrusively created his own language in Turkish film industry. The leading roles are Ali Erkazan, İdil Fırat and Mahir İpek.

Feature’s main emotion is the individual’s historical stranded-ness who has long lost his chance to decide upon his own life and future. Structuring a universal story with its roots in our own social reality, the film sits tight at the center of a frame that aims to visualize and make visible the sickening emotional atmosphere of today’s corrupted world.

You can find more information about our latest addition here. As TurkishFilmChannel we are going to do our best to make it available online on our partner channels as soon as possible!

Büyük markalar korsan destekçisi mi?

Posted: August 3, 2011 by tfc in Uncategorized
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Türkiye’de film sektörünün en büyük problemlerinden birisi “korsan”. Filmler DVD olarak piyasaya çıkar çıkmaz hatta bazen çıkmadan önce korsan film sitelerine düşmekte. Korsan siteler para kazanma peşindeler ve tek para kaynakları da reklamlar. Eğer bu reklamlar “Tebrikler bir milyonuncu ziyaretçi olarak nefis bir tatil kazandınız“,  ”Burnunuz büyük kulağınız da küçük olsun istiyorsanız ürünümüzü kullanın” , “Nijeryalı prense yardım edin para kazanın” tadındaki reklamlar olsaydı tencere yuvarlanmış kapağını bulmuş diye düşünmek mümkün olabilirdi. Fakat inanılması güç te olsa kimi büyük markalar bu sitelere reklam vermekte bir sakınca görmüyorlar. Sitelerine ziyaretçi geldiği sürece kime para kazandırdıklarını umursamıyorlar. Oysa ortada bir hırsızlık var. Üreten insanların emeklerinin çalınması ve geçim kaynaklarının, bir sonraki filmlerine katkıda bulunabilecek paranın kaybı söz konusu.

 

gittigidiyor ve trendyol korsan destekliyor

gittigidiyor ve trendyol korsan destekliyor

 

Eklenmesi gereken absürd bir not kimi korsan sitelerin seyircilerinden emeklerine saygı gösterilmesini istemeleri. Kim kimin emeğine saygı göstermiyor sizce?

Ücretsiz bir Türk filmi seyredin

Posted: July 28, 2011 by tfc in Announcements
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TurkishFilmChannel olarak Türk filmlerinin Internet üzerinde yasal dağıtımını yapıyoruz. Yayıncı şirketlerimizden biri olan MUBI ile ortak yürüttüğümüz kampanya dahilinde filmlerimizden birini promosyon kodumuzu kullanarak bedava seyredebilirsiniz. Böylelikle MUBI’nin nasıl çalıştığını deneme fırsatı da bulmuş olacaksınız. Detaylar için lütfen kampanya sayfamıza bakın.

Filmlerin hangi ülkelerde yayınlanabileceği lisans sözleşmeleri ile belirleniyor. Bu yüzden yaşadığınız ülkede bütün filmlerimizi seyredemeyebilirsiniz ama kısıtlı olabilecek seçeneklere rağmen hoşunuza gidecek, merak ettiğiniz filmler bulacağınıza eminiz. Hemen ekleyelim, kataloğumuza yeni film katmak ve bütün ülkeler için yayın haklarını almak konusunda sürekli çalışıyoruz.

İyi eğlenceler!

 

IndieFlix now offering TurkishFilmChannel films

Posted: July 25, 2011 by tfc in Announcements
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 IndieFlix is now offering TurkishFilmChannel films as part of their extensive independent film collection. We believe this will be a great opportunity to reach independent film lovers and enable them to discover independent award-winning Turkish films.

In 2005 IndieFlix launched with 36 titles, today they are offering over 2500 award-winning films for purchase, rental or streaming.

By the way IndieFlix has a 3-day trial membership in case you are not a member already and you want to give their services a try. After the trial you can continue with their $7.95 per month plan and have unlimited access to IndieFlix library. You can see our films on IndieFlix website on our page.

Enjoy!

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