FILM INSPIRED BY A COLUMN BY HRANT DINK

Hurriyet
lifestyle/11009358.asp?scr=1
Feb 16 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – Volunteer artists have gathered to adapt Agos’ late
editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s article ‘Kertenkele,’ published in
daily Birgun in October 2004 to the silver screen. The film has been
directed by national and international award-winning documentary
maker Ozgur Arık

Volunteer actors and actresses coming together under the slogan, "Our
struggle is until this country becomes the land of brotherhoodÃ~I,"
have shot a 32-minute short film in honor of slain journalist Hrant
Dink.

The product of months of work the film, "Kertenkel" (Lizard), was
inspired by a column published in daily Birgun in October 2004 written
by Agos editor-in-chief Dink, who was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007.

Ozgur Arık, a documentary maker who holds many national and
international awards, directed the film. The film’s budget was 40,000
Turkish liras, provided by the Green Agency and it was shot in the
Mediterranean city of Antalya.

Although the film cannot find a movie theater that will screen it,
there are plans to show it to audiences this year in many national and
international film festivals, including the International Istanbul
Film Festival that will be organized by the Istanbul Foundation for
Culture and Arts, or IKSV, in April. One of the most important planned
destinations for the film is the International Golden Apricot Film
Festival to be organized in Armenian capital, Yerevan in July. From
Feb. 17, the film will be screened with English and Turkish subtitles
at the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center on Istanbul’s Asian side in
Kadıköy.

"Being inspired by the painful events Armenians went through and
with the words of Dink, this film aims to draw attention to the
pain people are experiencing throughout the world. Unfortunately,
we fight to live in an environment in which people are moving away
from each other and becoming enemies," said Arık.

Arık said the film was based around a character named Abdullah. "A
lizard, when it feels danger, it shelters in the smallest hole it
can find, just like Abdullah." He said the content of the story was
traumatic, "Yes, there is violence in the story but it is based on
causality. We wanted to highlight once again the cost of excess in
this film."

"I have read almost all articles written by Dink," said Arık. He
said "Lizard" was very important to him, "As soon as I took the paper
and started reading the article, scenes from the film took shape in
my mind."

Supporting characters from local to general Even though Arık
sticks to the original story in the film, he also backs it up with
supporting characters. "Rather than localizing the story, we wanted to
draw attention to pain in the world by showing incidents in our own
land. Materiality is what lies behind pain all around the world. I
think economic worries nourish nationalism," Arık said. Arık
added a hodja character to the film. He said the character, hiding
behind religion, behaves cruelly toward people and confiscates their
land. "The hodja prays five times a day but all he thinks about is
owning more."

Arık said the film was set in the time of World War I, "While watching
the film, viewers will be able to see events that happened during the
war and the effect on people’s psychology." He said he intentionally
shot a short film and that its message was very short and certain. He
added the film had a mission in addition to commemorating Dink. "With
this film, rather than agitate, we try to highlight once again that
everyone who shares this land is a brother."

The End of the World War The film depicts the end of World War I. A
young Armenian person, who survived the painful events of 1915,
shelters in a village in the slopes of Mount Suphan in eastern
Anatolia. He does not play on the streets like the other young
people. He lives in the shed of a villager named Ismail and tells
people nothing except that his name is Abdullah. One day when he is
in the toilet, other children see he is uncircumcised, and start
throwing stones at him. With fear, Abdullah shelters in the shed
and circumcises himself with a sharp tool and then throws the bloody
piece of skin at the people.