The "Korkut Ata Turkish World Film Festival", which will be held within the scope of the "Beyoğlu Culture Road Festival" organized for the first time this year by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, was held at the Çırağan Palace. This year, the festival hosts over 13 filmmakers, actors and cultural people from the Turkic Republics, along with 42 films from 100 countries.
Among the participating countries of the festival are Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Hungary, Sakha Republic, Tatarstan, Gagauzia, Iran, Ukraine and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, hosted by Turkey.
Speaking at the opening reception of the festival, Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said, “We know and see that thousands of years of history, shared common culture, and original and pioneering productions shaped by countless interactions connect us, and we share this experience today as it was yesterday. Our aim is to bring this unity together under one roof and to see what we can do when we achieve this. Frankly, this thought excites me immensely. The roof we will meet under should have been both elegant and aesthetic and equally effective. Of course, the search betrays the answer itself. Art was the most obvious and correct choice. We chose cinema from its wide spectrum.” said.
Minister Ersoy underlined that cinema has the potential to make a huge difference, from the individual to the society, in today's mass communication and continued as follows:
“Obviously, the number of countries where the cinema industry is very strong in production, distribution and economy does not exceed the fingers of one hand or even fill it. When we look at the way cinema is used in these countries, it is possible to see the approach to the concept of 'making a difference' and the results obtained in this way. Now is the time to show our difference. We cannot afford to waste any more time at this point. When we think about the great geography, history and cultural texture of the countries that will participate in the Korkut Ata Turkish World Film Festival, whose representatives I see in this hall, the diversity of the contents that can be reflected on the big screen, how special and exceptional their perspectives can be, how big differences we can catch, and the depth of the details to be touched upon. we can all guess. And yet, it is a responsibility to produce works of art and cinema and to deliver these works to the widest possible audience.”
Pointing out that the Ministry has increased the support given to cinema in Turkey more than 19 times in the last 45 years, Ersoy said, “Currently, we have reached the level of 250 million dollars. Only in the last three years, the number of projects we have supported has been 1360 and the amount of support has been 284 million TL. 'What is our result?' If you ask, the number of domestic film production has increased 20 times. Our people also took care of the production and labor of their own artists, and the number of spectators of our domestic productions rose from 2 million to 33 million. Our directors, actors and scriptwriters have been and continue to be our pride in international organizations. We continue to receive awards.” used the expressions.
“Korkut Ata Turkish World Film Festival is an Invaluable Step for the World to Understand Us”
Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy stated that they made important changes in the Cinema Law in 2019 in order to carry Turkish cinema further, to make this development and growth sustainable, and to make Turkey one of the film production centers.
“We started to get very good results of this, despite the global epidemic conditions. Hopefully, with the normalization of the world, these results will reach a very different level. Of course, I would like to open a parenthesis here for our TV series industry, which has written a tremendous success story. The Turkish TV series industry has reached a position that has reached more than 152 million viewers worldwide with its productions broadcast in 600 countries. Simply put, one out of every 13 people in the world watches at least one TV series produced in Turkey. So, 'what did this level of production, this success in the cinema and TV series industry bring you?' If you ask me, my answer will be very clear. We explained ourselves, dear guests. Thanks to our certain productions, we had the chance to promote the values, culture and civilization we represent. We got people wondering. As a result, curiosity brings learning, learning brings understanding, understanding brings empathy. The most important feature of art is to break down barriers, prejudices and stereotypes between societies and cultures. Art is a dichotomy from culture to culture, from belief to belief, from idea to idea. Korkut Ata Turkish World Film Festival is also a very valuable step towards the world's understanding of us.”
Pointing out that the festival will increase cultural and artistic cooperation opportunities between the countries of the Turkic world and strengthen the common historical, cultural and social values through the art of cinema, Minister Ersoy said, “This unity will make it possible for the cinema works of each country to reach wider audiences in the first place. I believe that the steps to be taken together and co-productions will enable us to take part in the international arena with more works, and allow our films to meet with a wider and different audience. In addition, with each new work produced, the cultural and intellectual infrastructure of the Turkish world cinema will be recorded. Thus, we will ensure the formation of an important cinema archive and artistic heritage that will be an inspiration and example to new generations. All of these are results for which we must strive, and hopefully together we will achieve them.” made its assessment.
Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ahmet Misbah Demircan, Istanbul Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Coşkun Yılmaz, Istanbul University Rector Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak, director Reis Çelik, Mesut Uçan and Nazif Tunç, as well as many names from Turkey and the culture and art world of the Turkish Republics attended.
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