Şahin Demir / Anadolu Agency – Dec 12, 2018
The “Days of Turkish Films in Iranian Cinema” program, launched on Friday, December 7, with the support of the Cultural Department of Istanbul Municipality, brought together Iranian directors from cities such as Tabriz, Urmia, Zanjan, and Ardabil at the Yeşilçam Cinema in Istanbul’s Taksim Square. Continuing until Monday, the event introduced Turkish cinema enthusiasts to young filmmakers from these regions and played a significant role in fostering new ideas for potential co-productions.
Ehsan Kabil, an advisor to the Cultural Department of Istanbul Municipality and one of the organizers of the event—who has also served as a judge in numerous international festivals including the Fajr Film Festival in Iran—spoke to Anadolu Agency about the origins and goals of the initiative. He said:
“Last year, at the Malatya Film Festival, a special section was dedicated to short and documentary Turkish-language films from Urmia, Tabriz, and Ardabil, with participation from filmmakers from the region. That’s when we first encountered this cinematic tradition. Iranian cinema holds a prominent place in the world and wins major awards at international festivals. It also effectively introduces Iranian culture to global audiences through film.”
He continued:
“Most Iranian films are in Persian. We wanted to showcase another side of Iranian cinema—films made in Azerbaijani Turkish—to Turkish moviegoers. So we included not only short and documentary films but also feature-length ones, and invited the directors and producers of these works to participate. The goal of this program is to strengthen cultural relations between Turkey and Iran.
After each screening, viewers can ask questions to the directors, and a photo exhibition of the aforementioned cities is also being held alongside the film screenings.”
Kabil, who focuses primarily on independent films from Turkic regions around the world—such as Central Asia, the Uyghur region in China, and Turkic republics within the Russian Federation—added:
“In my view, this region is also part of that broad cultural and artistic geography. I hope we will continue to expand our engagement with Turkic-speaking regions in the future so we can co-produce films and organize joint festivals.”
Kamal Kaptaner, Director of Istanbul Municipality’s Cultural Organization, also emphasized the importance of the program in helping Turkish audiences discover new aspects of Iranian cinema:
“This program was initiated thanks to our cinema advisor Ehsan Kabil. The ‘Days of Turkish Films in Iranian Cinema’ project is being held in Turkey for the first time. Artistically, Iranian cinema is one of the strongest in the world. For the first time, Turkish-language films—part of this rich cinematic tradition—are being screened for Turkish viewers.”
Riza Siyami, an Iranian director who focuses primarily on Turkish-language films in Iranian cinema, spoke of the enthusiasm among young Iranians for creating art:
“For the first time in 2015 and 2016, we screened some of these Turkish-language short films from Iran at the Silk Road Festival. We also participated in the Malatya Festival last year. Over the past 10 years, young Iranian filmmakers have shown growing interest in making films in their mother tongue. This motivated us to screen these films in countries like Turkey and Azerbaijan. Since most people associate Iranian cinema with Persian-language films, we wanted to offer a new perspective.”
Siyami added that although these films are mainly artistic and independent, some directors are now also considering commercial filmmaking in the future.
Reza Oylum, a Turkish director and writer known for analyzing non-Hollywood cinema, stressed that:
“We should not view other cultures solely through the lens offered by Hollywood. Instead, we must learn about them through their own national cinemas.”
He noted that he has written books analyzing Russian, German, East Asian, and Middle Eastern cinemas, and said:
“I have focused most on Iranian cinema, a passion that developed during my travels to Iran and participation in film festival juries there. In Iran, I witnessed a new wave of filmmaking in the mother tongue. Especially in recent years, directors from Turkish-speaking areas of Iran have begun producing films in their native language. At the Malatya Film Festival, we had a small section of 8 short films and documentaries by these filmmakers. Now, a year later and with support from the Istanbul Municipality, we’ve expanded the program to include not only short films and documentaries but also feature-length works.”