Young filmmakers find an audience in US, Turkey

One day, a young man from a southern Turkish province sees a poster on the wall of his school. Surprised by the advertisement, he screws up his courage and presents his ideas to the jury, which chooses him as one of the winners.

From Antakya, he goes to the United States for a few weeks of training. Ultimately, his dream comes true – he shoots a short film. Today, this film is shown not only in Turkey, but in the U.S. as well.

“I featured in the film an ironic, but funny story of three small children stealing shoes from a mosque,” Caner Apış, 21, told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. “There is slight criticism of the economic system, but fun is on the frontline.”

Caner was one of the Turkish students who learned how to make short films as part of a U.S.-sponsored project coordinated by the State University of New York at Fredonia. Atlantik Film, one of the largest production companies in Turkey, was responsible for the Turkish portion of the project.

“When I arrived here in 2007, we had over half a million dollars for this film festival. We did not know how to make a youth film festival, so we devised a request for proposals. We laid out all of the conditions, advertised it and got 12 proposals,” U.S. Embassy cultural attaché Craig Dicker explained. “We reviewed the proposals and the winning one was from the State University of New York in Fredonia.”

Six Turkish cities chosen

For its proposal, the American university chose six Turkish cities – Antakya, Artvin, Edirne, Konya, Mardin and Sivas – based on their geographic diversity and economic status. Twelve students from each city were selected to be part of the project. Their training began in November 2008 and lasted for a year. Three of the student filmmakers from each city then traveled to the United States in September 2009 to continue with their training. There, they fine-tuned their films and presented them at film festivals.

“The films were premiered in Washington, [but] actually shown first in Fredonia in October, then in Boston and at the World Bank in Washington,” said Dicker. “I’ve seen all 18 films. I’m very satisfied with them. I think some of them, to be honest with you, are world-class – potential award-winning films. This is quite spectacular, given the fact that 18 months ago, these kids knew nothing about making films.”

Turks, Americans intermingle

The student filmmakers made movies about democracy, human rights, tolerance, diversity, women’s issues and economic empowerment. At the end of the project, all 72 participants reunited at a festival last week in Ankara for two days of interaction. Their films were shown in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır over the weekend.

While in the U.S., the Turkish students received instruction on scriptwriting, camera techniques, sound recording, lighting and editing, and also worked with American youth.

“It was kind of my luck that I got involved in this project. I had just graduated from the State University of New York and come back from an internship in San Francisco,” said Megan Erbacher, who helped the Turkish students with post-production, editing and technical assistance such as color correction.

“It was just so wonderful meeting everyone, such a great cultural exchange,” she said.

“I was just blown away by the talent that is in this crew, considering they had three weeks of production training and then filmed. I mean, I went to school for four years to do this, and we’re lucky if it comes out looking like this,” Erbacher said of the work produced. “Here, it was only for three weeks and it’s just beautiful, it’s just so good. I’m so impressed.”

Filmmaker from Mardin

Muhammed Kuşcu is another one of the lucky Turkish filmmakers. A university student from Sivas studying civil engineering, Kuşcu said he tried hard to convince the jury that he was the best choice for the project.

“I shot a documentary about women’s rights,” he said. “I followed two female candidates running in the local elections from Sivas. It turned out to be nice work. We enjoyed it a lot.”

Eighteen-year-old Yeşu Beğtaş from Mardin, on Turkey’s border with Syria, wanted to tell the story of the seven movie theaters that once existed in his city. “Today, there is only one theater; a garbage dump replaced the former theaters,” he said. Asked about the results of the project, he added: “We made a lot of friends from the States and some other Turkish cities.”

‘A success story’

The project is a success story, according to Dicker.

“I think this was a very well-done, very good and a very well-executed program. This is one of our success stories,” the U.S. official said.

Recent polls have shown Turkey to be one of the most anti-American nations. Such projects may foster interaction and mutual understanding between the two countries’ peoples.

“I’ve been to over 40 districts in this country. I’ve spoken to young and old people in all different contexts,” said Dicker. “And when I speak to people, they are constantly curious and interested in what I have to say. It’s a good reason why 14,000 Turkish students are studying in the U.S. today.”

Referring to the poll results, he added: “You have to be careful; it’s not that simple. When you break down that term ‘anti-Americanism’ into its constituent parts, you’ll find out there’s also a lot of pro–Americanism.”

Project was ‘a real eye-opener’

For Erbacher, there was definitely a kind of cross-cultural intention in the effort to bring Turkish and American students together.

“I can only speak for the American students, obviously, but I know that as Americans, our idea of Turkey is not always accurate,” she said. “It was a real eye-opener and I just feel so lucky to be a part of it. I think all of us walked away from our prejudices. On both sides, we know they’re just like us.”