In an effort to deepen liberal understanding between Turkey and Korea, art and public agencies of both countries held a film festival last week in Seoul, featuring six representative Turkish movies.

The Seoul Turkish Film Festival at Arirang Cine Center from Nov. 25-28 was a collaboration between the municipalities of Beyoglu in Istanbul and Seongbuk-gu in Seoul, the Turkish Cinema and Audiovisual Culture Foundation, the Turkish Prime Ministry and the Turkish embassy.

Internationally recognized films “The Goal of My Life” (2008), “Night of Silence” (2012), “Once upon a Time” (2015), “Mix Tape” (2014) and “But Muzeyyen, That’s the Deepest Desire” (2014) were shown, along with “The Extremely Tragic Story of Celal Tan and his Family” (2011), which was showcased at the opening ceremony on Wednesday. The event was attended by film directors and cast members Reyis Celik, Muge Ulusoy, Ali Aksoz and Selcuk Yontem. 

“The Turkish cinema industry, which celebrated its centennial anniversary last year, has been critically acclaimed around the world in recent decades,” Turkish Ambassador Arslan Hakan Okcal said in a speech.

“It is remarkable that the Beyoglu municipality in Istanbul has organized this event, as it has been the heart of our 100-year-old national cinema as well as the city’s cultural center.”

The first Turkish film was a documentary titled “Demolition of the Russian Monument at San Stefano,” directed by Fuat Uzkinay in 1914. Making use of the postwar cultural space, Turkey’s cinema boomed along the narrow Yesilcam Street in Beyoglu, where actors, directors, technical workers and studios congregated.

During its heydays from the 1950s to ’70s, Yesilcam, meaning the “Green Pine,” came to represent the national industry, producing between 250 and 350 movies a year. From the 1960s to the early 1970s, Turkey became the world’s fifth-largest producer with around 300 movies generated annually.

The industry saw a decline in the 1980s with the rise of television, but Yesilcam has been on a path of revitalization since 2002, with renewed global interest in Turkish culture through films such as “Uzak,” “Babam ve Oglum” and “Propaganda.” 

Okcal also highlighted that the six showcased films achieved “remarkable” box office success in Turkey, also mentioning other international hits, such as the director Metin Erksan’s “Dry Summer,” which won the Golden Bear Award at the 1964 Berlin Film Festival and Yilmaz Guney’s “The Road,” which won the Palm d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.

Building on these successes, later generations of filmmakers, such as Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Fatih Akin and Ferzan Ozpetek, have triumphed at prominent international festivals, including Cannes, the Oscars, the Berlin festival, the Venice festival and the Montreal festival.

In recent years, Turkish cinema has found popular audiences also in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Asia.

“A nation’s history does not exist without culture. Culture and the arts produce a nation,” said film director Reyis Celik, who participated in the opening ceremony.

“Korea is famous for its high-tech products, but as artists, we are not interested in that. We developed curiosity about Korea through your deep films.”

By Joel Lee (joel@heraldcorp.com)