Essayistic Tendencies in Contemporary Kurdish Filmmaking in Turkey

Abstract

©2019 by the board of trustees of the university of illinois recent years have seen a rise in the num­ ber of films produced in Turkey that cannot be classified as either fiction or documentary, but remain in between. Some filmmakers include nonfiction sequences within a fictional narra­ tive; others choose to rewrite and reenact true stories; and some edit documentary images to make them feel fictive. Almost all of these films deal with social and political matters, and most are well­known examples of an emerging Kurd­ ish cinema in Turkey,1 especially tackling issues regarding the freedom and rights of Kurds.2 Another characteristic they share is the film­ makers’ personal connections to and involve­ ments in these matters, which turn the films’ narratives into fresh interpretations of current and historical events. The following films can be included in this category: Dûr [Distant] (Kazım Öz, 2005); Demsala Dawî: Şewaxan [The Last Season: Shawaks] (Kazım Öz, 2008); Gitmek: Benim Marlon ve Brandom [My Marlon and Brando] (Hüseyin Karabey, 2008); İki Dil Bir Bavul [On the Way to School] (Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan, 2008); Press (Sedat Yılmaz, 2010); Babamın Sesi [Voice of My Father] (Orhan Eskiköy and Zeynel Doğan, 2012); Ez Firiyam Tu Mayî Li Cî [I Flew, You Stayed] (Mizgin Müjde Arslan, 2012); Bûka Baranê [The Children Chasing the Rainbow] (Dilek Gökçin, 2013); and He bû tune bû [Once upon a Time] (Kazım Öz, 2014). Some of these films are fiction, whereas others are first­person observational documen­ taries, or “creative” documentaries as their makers call them. I evaluate these films within “the domain of the essayistic,” as phrased by Rascaroli (The Personal Camera 189) because of their in­between nature along with the pres­ ence of the filmmakers’ personal viewpoints and their autobiographical links to the stories, which will be discussed further later. This shared essayism prompts a series of questions with regard to filmic representa­ tion in Turkey: Are political subject matters perceived as less real (and more tolerable) when fictionalized? What are the practical and stylistic possibilities that essayism offers for recounting the past? How does un­belonging to a conventional category, such as fiction or documentary, affect a film’s reception and criticism? Why, in general, is there a tendency to tell facts through fiction among filmmakers (specifically of political cinema) in Turkey? In­ deed, the answers to these questions are not easily assessable, at least not within the limits of this article. However, they are useful in di­ recting us to uncover the details of the differ­ ent modes of essayistic representation avail­ able in these films and to identify some of the ways in which filmic form allows, emphasizes, and reflects upon the overlap of conventional categories. This article addresses those Kurd­ ish films that narrativize the Kurdish­Turkish conflict in Turkey through the use of some shared essayistic choices in their visual narra­ tion, which promotes a dialogue between fact Essayistic Tendencies in Contemporary Kurdish Filmmaking in Turkey