KURDISH CINEMA BRINGS NEW BREATH TO WORLD FILM SECTOR
Hurriyet
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 11:20
ISTANBUL – Kurdish Filmmakers Living In Various Parts Of The World
Have Produced And Recently Released The First Kurdish Cinema Resource
Book. ‘Kurdish Cinema Draws Interest To Its Different Themes During
A Period When Hollywood Is Reaching A Dead End. There Is An Interest
In An Unknown Society And Culture,’ Says Documentary Maker Mujde Aslan.
Director and screenwriter Yýlmaz Guney, nicknamed "Ugly King" and
whose best known film is "Yol" (The Road), is the first name that
comes to mind when one thinks of Kurdish cinema in Turkey.
Guney, of Kurdish origin, moved to France after escaping prison in
the wake of the 1980 coup. Later on he was stripped of his Turkish
citizenship.
"Yol," written by Guney and directed by Þerif Goren, shared the
Golden Palm Award with Greek director Costa Gavras’ "Missing" at
the 1982 Cannes Film Festival. It was a personal success for Guney
because it was almost impossible to talk about Kurdish cinema in this
period. Then in the 1990s young Kurdish directors living in various
parts of the world started making their first movies.
Golden Camera for ‘A Time for Drunken Horses’ Because of the Kurdish
problem in Turkey during this period, the Kurdish public and its
culture became popular around the world. Iranian director of Kurdish
origin Bahman Ghobadi won the Golden Camera Award at the Cannes Film
Festival in 2000 for his film "Dema Herspen Serxwes" (A Time for
Drunken Horses), which centered on a Kurdish family’s drama. This
award offered hope for young Kurdish filmmakers, and they started
producing new films one after another.
But financial problems posed the biggest hurdle. This problem led these
filmmakers to initiate a common project. They got in contact with
people living in various parts of the world and gathered documents
for their films and projects. And the result was a book called
"Yurtsuzluk, Sýnýr ve Olum" (Rootlessness, Border and Death) that
was compiled by documentary maker Mujde Aslan and recently released
by Agora Publishing House.
The book will also be published soon in Kurdish and English.
Kurdish cinema and identity Aslan and Devrim Kýlýc, who is living
in the Australian city of Melbourne and contributed research for
the book, spoke to the Hurriyet Daily News & Economic Review about
Kurdish cinema. Stating that it was impossible to talk about Kurdish
cinema until the 21st century, Aslan said: "The Kurdish public is
a different one that lives in various parts of the world and seeks
their identity. Of course there are Kurdish directors making films in
different countries, but like in the Yýlmaz Guney example, directors
are nourished by the culture of the country where they live. Therefore
it is impossible to talk about a rooted Kurdish cinema."
Even though Kurdish cinema is known to have been initiated by the film
"Zare" in 1926, Aslan said it was not true. "Armenian origin director
Hamo Bek-Nazarov shot ‘Zare’ with the help of Kurdish tribes. Yes,
the team was Kurdish, but the director was Armenian. But there is
also a detail that should be remembered. Kurds could have never been
as free as they were in Russia or Armenia. This film is the evidence
of this fact."
Kýlýc said Kurdish cinema received too much interest in recent years,
adding that the reason was the Kurdish problem in Turkey. "Kurdish
society doesn’t have a cinema culture," Kýlýc said. "Kurds started
making films while everyone was discussing whether cinema is a branch
of art. The public’s interest is almost nonexistent."
Kurdish cinema and themes Kýlýc said Kurdish films were generally set
in rural areas. "In these films, Kurds are portrayed as villagers,
illiterate and barbaric. I have never seen Kurds portrayed in a
different way. Guney’s films are the same; they are full of pain, and
so are Ghobadin’s films. Ghobadi gives the following answer when one
asks him the reason: ‘Kurds remind me only of snow, war, mountains,
mine and wire fences."
Born in Mardin, Aslan agrees with Kýlýc, and said: "Kurds preserve
their identity in villages the most. They are assimilated in cities. My
latest film ‘A Fatal Dress: Polygamy’ is based on my personal story. I
have questioned my own relations. Kurdish cinema has an introverted
style."
Kurdish cinema is like a child Aslan said their projected aimed to
encourage young Kurdish directors. "Kurdish cinema is like a child
who has just started speaking," she said. "But it is unique and
introverted."
Talking about the world’s interest in Kurdish cinema, Aslan said,
"Kurdish cinema draws interest to its different themes during a
period when Hollywood is reaching a dead end. There is an interest
in an unknown culture. Kurdish directors and foreign ones are making
films about Kurdish society."