Mayor of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Tunç Soyer, opened the “If There Is No Lodge Officer, Please Ring The Bell – Star Cinema Over Time Exhibition” opened in the Historical Bıçakçı Han, which the Metropolitan Municipality brought to the city life. Stating that they will restore Yıldız Cinema and Historical Bıçakçı Han, they will protect the precious pieces on display. Tunç Soyerheralded the start of work on the creation of a “Cinema Museum”.
The “If There Is No Lodge Officer, Please Ring The Bell – Yıldız Cinema Over Time Exhibition”, which was prepared to preserve many rare pieces, large and small, in Yıldız Cinema, was opened. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality Mayor attended the opening at the historical Bıçakçı Han. Tunç Soyer, Konak Mayor Abdül Batur, Menderes Mayor Mustafa Kayalar, Güzelbahçe Mayor Mustafa İnce, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Secretary General Dr. Buğra Gökçe, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Ertuğrul Tugay, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Barış Karcı, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Suphi Şahin, İzmir Metropolitan Municipality Deputy Secretary General Eser Atak, Documentary Director Nebil Özgentürk, former owner of Yıldız Cinema and its operator Kazmirci family, former employees of Yıldız Cinema, headmen, chamber presidents, bureaucrats and Izmir residents. The exhibition can be visited until the end of the year.
Work has begun for the Cinema Museum
President Soyer, who started his speech by commemorating the previous owner of Yıldız Cinema, Yüksel Kazmirci, who passed away on June 8, said: “Many rare pieces, large and small, preserved under the roof of Yıldız Cinema, have stood the test of time but are about to disappear with each passing day. We realized that history has been entrusted to us. Our valuable city stakeholders and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, who acted with a sense of historical responsibility to organize an exhibition that aims to preserve, share and transfer these memories to the future, carried out a comprehensive study jointly. We named our exhibition, which was created around the desire to re-live history with surprise works accompanying pieces from 1953-1988, telling the story of Yıldız Cinema over time, 'If You Don't Have a Lodge Officer, Please Ring the Bell'. I would like to state that we also wish to enrich the content here with other contributions. Our Izmir Cinema Office has already started to make a concept study in consultation with all stakeholders regarding the creation of a 'Cinema Museum' that will gather all these under its roof.”
The exhibition reconstructs the identity of cinema
Yaşar University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Radio, Television and Cinema. Dr. Dilek Kaya, on the other hand, said, “Yıldız, as it stands today, is a spirit, a character caught in a limbo between carpet pitch and cinema. We wanted to show this character the attention and affection he deserves. This exhibition reconstructs the identity of Yıldız Cinema with documents.”
At the ceremony, President Soyer presented a plaque to the veterans of cinema for their contributions to the cinema culture of İzmir. The plaque of the former owner of the cinema, Yüksel Kazmirci, who is no longer with us, was presented to his son, Tolga Kazmirci. Also, the plaques of Oğuz Işıkalp, Business Responsible Manager, and Box Office Officer Ülfet Işıkalp, who are not with us, were presented to Prof. Osman Işıkalp on behalf of his sons. Dr. Dilek Kaya got it. President Soyer presented the plaque of Chief Engineer Rüstem Çetin to himself. A plaque prepared in the name of Ferruh Özdemir, Assistant Machinist, and his wife Nadide Özdemir, the Box Office Officer, was presented to Ferruh Özdemir. After the opening, President Soyer and his entourage toured the exhibition.
It is intended to be a living exhibition.
The exhibition includes pieces from 1953-1988 and sheds light on the history of cinema. Considered as one of the first steps towards bringing a cinema museum to İzmir, the exhibition will remain open until the end of 2021. The exhibition, which is planned to enrich by adding new content over time, to host panels, interviews and various events, is designed to be a living example of an exhibition. In line with this, a part of the main exhibition space was organized as a laboratory where archive and exhibition works continue, and the strip films coming out of the cinema are controlled by projection by veteran movie projectionist Baki Nair. Visitors will also be able to witness the work in this laboratory, which is separated by a transparent separator.
An animation prepared by Yusuf Saygı on the history of cinema and hologram applications of some characters who have passed through the screen of Yıldız Cinema can also be seen in the exhibition venue. During the exhibition, along with Zuhal Çetin Özkan's Basmane'nin Orta Yeri Sinema, Dilek Kaya's Yıldız Cinema, which is about the old cinemas of Basmane, and Yıldız Dustu about its former employees, in another warehouse located in Bıçakçı Han, as well as Dilek Tunalı's video work titled Yıldız Cinema: I Remember, consisting of oral history talks on Yıldız Cinema, will meet with the audience.
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