New Turkish Cinema
New Turkish Cinema: Belonging, Identity and Memory is a 2010 I.B. Tauris publication by Istanbul Technical University Associate Professor Asuman Suner which examines the emergence of the new wave Turkish cinema, including both commercial and independent productions, against the backdrop of the drastic transformation undergone by Turkey since the mid-1990s and how these films persistently return to the themes of belonging, identity and memory. The book, which was published on, is an extensively revised and re-written update of an earlier edition published by Metis Press, Istanbul, in 2006.
Content
Introduction
The author briefly outlines the history of Turkish cinema in order to place the emergence of new Turkish cinema in into historical and cultural context.
Chapter 1: ''Popular Nostalgia Films''
New popular Turkish films focusing on the provincial small-town life of the past, which voice a critique of modern Turkish society through an idealized representation of the past as a time of collective childhood, are discussed by the author, who finds this critique problematic, however, as it renders society unaccountable for the events of the past and alleviates it from the burden of responsibility.
Filmography
Propaganda, directed by Sinan ÇetinOffside, directed by Serdar AkarThe Waterfall, directed by Semir AslanyürekVizontele, directed by Yılmaz Erdoğan and Ömer Faruk SorakVizontele Tuuba, directed by Yılmaz ErdoğanMy Father and My Son, directed by Çağan IrmakThe International, directed by Muharrem Gülmez and Sırrı Süreyya Önder
Chapter 2: ''New Political Films''
The new wave of Turkish political films, which show the effect on normal people of the country's traumatic recent past, are discussed by the author, who argues these films interrogate questions of national identity and belonging in common with transnational cinema.
Filmography
Journey to the Sun, directed by Yeşim UstaoğluIn Nowhere Land, directed by Tayfun PirselimoğluMud, directed by Derviş ZaimWaiting for the Clouds, directed by Yeşim UstaoğluToss-Up, directed by Uğur Yücel
Chapter 3: ''The Cinema of Nuri Bilge Ceylan''
The films of the Cannes Grand Jury Prize-winning auteur-filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan, arguably the most internationally acclaimed director of new Turkish cinema, are discussed by the author, who claims that they are mainly about acknowledging the paradoxes of home and belonging.
Filmography
Cocoon, directed by Nuri Bilge CeylanSmall Town, directed by Nuri Bilge CeylanClouds of May, directed by Nuri Bilge CeylanDistant, directed by Nuri Bilge CeylanClimates, directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Chapter 4: ''The Cinema of Zeki Demirkubuz''
The films of prominent auteur-filmmaker Zeki Demirkubuz, which centre on characters who are agitated or detached, draw upon highly-dramatic and violent events, and use compulsive repetition in the narrative, are discussed by the author, who claims they direct attention to the dark underside of domesticity and the home.
Filmography
Block C, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzInnocence, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzThe Third Page, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzFate, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzConfession, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzThe Waiting Room, directed by Zeki DemirkubuzDestiny, directed by Zeki Demirkubuz
Chapter 5: ''New Istanbul Films''
The new transitional genre of Istanbul Films, which offer alternative ways of seeing the city to its former privileged position in Turkish cinema, is discussed by the author, who claims that these films recycle and reuse traditional clichés about the city rather than negating them.
Filmography
Somersault in a Coffin, directed by Dervis ZaimIstanbul Tales, directed by Selim Demirdelen, Kudret Sabancı, Ümit Ünal, Yücel Yolcu and Ömür AtayHead-On, directed by Fatih AkınCrossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, directed by Fatih Akın
Chapter 6: ''The Absent Women of New Turkish Cinema''
The absence of women, a major defining characteristic of new Turkish cinema, is discussed by the author, who suggests this is shaped by an ambivalence of the filmmakers who subordinate women to men and deny them agency but have a critical self-awareness of their complicity with patriarchal society.
Filmography
Vasfiye is Her Name, directed by Atıf Yılmaz
Afterword
The author provides a general assessment of new Turkish cinema on the basis of the arguments in the preceding chapters.