MASTER DIRECTOR ŞERİF GÖREN WAS HONORED AT THE GOLDEN ORANGE PANELS, FILMING WITH CHILDREN AND THE STRUGGLE FOR LABOR IN THE CINEMA INDUSTRY WERE DISCUSSED

In addition to film screenings, Altın Portakal contributed to the film industry through panels, honouring master director Şerif Gören and addressing various important topics in cinema with the participation of industry representatives.

The 62nd International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival contributes to the development of the film industry through its film screenings, discussions, numerous events, and panels.

Yesterday at the festival, director Şerif Gören, whose film “Amerikalı” was screened in a newly restored copy, was honoured in a panel titled “Master: Şerif Gören.” German director Susanne Kim, who makes films about children and with their guidance, shared her experiences. In contrast, union representatives from the film industry shared labour and harassment issues in the sector with the public.

"Amerikalı saved Turkish cinema from crisis”

The panel discussion held before the screening of the restored version of the film “Amerikalı” featured academics Şükran Kuyucak Esen and Ali Karadoğan, the film's producer, Mine Vargı, and veteran actress Lale Mansur, who shared the lead role with Şener Şen.

Speaking first, Şükran Kuyucak Esen summarised Şerif Gören's cinema with these words: "He was a social realist. He himself said, ‘A person is life; I tell people's stories.’ Therefore, he was a director who could reach audiences with his fluid narrative, explaining issues without resorting to slogans. With the emergence of television in the 1970s, Turkish cinema entered a crisis, and with the permission granted to American companies in 1987, it was doomed. However, he brought the audience back to the theatre with the film ‘The American,’ which you will see shortly.

“When the producer first offered me the Amerikalı film, I said, ‘I can't do it.’”

Picking up where Esen left off, Mine Vargı, offering her perspective as a producer, shared the story of how they took on the Amerikalı production: "My husband, Ömer Vargı, was Şerif Gören's assistant and trusted teammate on the films ‘Endişe’ and ‘Yol’. When he came to us and said, ‘Ömer, I have a project. I want to do something new for Turkish cinema now,’ it was a period when we were busy shooting commercials." ‘I remember saying, “I can't do it,” because at that time, no one was going to the Turkish cinema anymore. But then I faced myself: I saw my fear —I'm making commercials; I have no connection to cinema; I have no connection to filmmaking! But Şerif Gören is a master; I'll ask him, he'll teach me, we'll do this job, I said. Then an incredible confidence came over me. It was a turning point in my life! I earned a wonderful title: Turkey's first female producer! Box office records were broken, and audiences returned to the cinema.

Vargı said that after this decision, he began to dream, and even though no one believed him, these dreams came true: "I imagined red carpets being laid out on Emek Street (Emek Cinema), just like Hollywood. ‘What Emek? What red carpet? They don't show Turkish films there anymore,’ they said. All my dreams were shattered. But those red carpets were laid, and the film's premiere was at Emek. ‘Warner Bros. came,’ they said; I didn't even know who they were! And as far as I know, the first Turkish film distributed by Warner Bros. was American."

Lale Mansur, who mentioned that she worked with Şerif Gören for the second time on “Amerikalı,” also shared her own experiences "My first film was ‘Dream Travellers,’ and a year ago I won the Best Actress award in Antalya. ‘The American’ was a film that explained how American culture subjugates people in countries like ours. There was nothing to think about; I accepted immediately. Şener was very helpful to me. Mine made things very easy on set."

Films made by children for children

The other panel of the day, “Kids and Docs - Making Documentaries from a Child's Perspective,” was eye-opening for everyone. The panel, moderated by Bahriye Kabadayı Bal, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Documentary Film Producers Association (BSB), featured German documentary filmmaker Susanne Kim as a guest speaker.

Kim, known for her film “My Chambers of Wonders” (Meine Wunderkammern), which she shot with children and entirely under their direction, shared her experiences of making films by establishing an organic connection with children, without the support of a pedagogue or expert, contrary to what has been customary until now.

The director described her work on the film, which takes its name from the special collection rooms where nobles and scholars in the 16th-18th centuries displayed interesting objects from the fields of nature, art, and science, as follows: "I don't know if such a system exists in Turkey, but in Germany, people leave old items they no longer use in front of their doors, and those in need take them. The children chose items from among these and asked, ‘Can we make something with these?’. They created things from these items. We had the opportunity to observe how the children interacted with our cameras. We also have a film about a girl who has learning difficulties and language problems. We could have made the film with just interviews, but instead we chose to show her own world."

“We recorded the songs of children who wrote songs about climate change.

Kim described the process of working with the children as follows: “We didn’t work with a psychologist or counsellor. Frankly, I couldn’t really predict what would happen during filming. I got help from a friend’s mother; we cooked meals together, made selections, and organised workshops. If you are completely open with children, you can really connect with them. When the film ended, they would say, ‘Aren't we coming back? Is it over?’ In general, we don't like to put children in moulds. Whatever they really want to talk about should be in the film. In one of our films, a child realises they have no friends, which is very difficult for a child to accept. The idea came from how we could do this so that children could feel it. A girl who came with her family from Iran joined our journey. She wanted to be in this film because she knows very well what it means to flee a country. She wanted to be in this film to show what children in her country are like. In my visual analysis, I also tried to show what she felt while fleeing. Our pre-film work was more about content than technique. There are adults, like the director and cinematographer, but we asked the children questions like, "What interests you?" What is important to you? What do you bring into your own world? We also held sound workshops with the artists; for example, which sound makes you feel fear, which sound is the sound of love for you? We also had music seminars; children aged 8-9 were writing songs about climate change. We went into the studio and recorded them. The children made all the music in the film.

“The kids wanted to film in the forest, not at the mall or the amusement park.”

The director, who said it wasn't easy to find the children who would appear in the film, also shared that they were surprised by the answer they received when they asked the children about the filming location: "I went to schools, clubs; I went everywhere. It's not easy because sometimes they say ‘okay’ and then disappear. Then I spread across the world and found these four children — our wonderful main characters — in different cities. We also worked with a children's home, children with problems, and children with family issues at home. We gained many ideas and details from them as well. Setting up the set was also quite difficult; two houses in the middle of nowhere! I asked the children where they wanted to shoot. I was expecting answers like 'a shopping mall' or 'an amusement park'. They said they wanted to go to nature! A quiet and peaceful place.

When the work is original, it's not easy to define. When asked whether her films are classified as documentaries or fiction, the director said, “I see them as documentaries, but I'm not very interested in definitions,” and continued: "Whether it's fiction or not, what matters is that it's a film about children. We can talk about what's important for children; are the emotions and terms real or not? What is authentic? We didn't care much about that. This is also a big topic of debate. Is this a documentary? What matters is whether we were able to connect with the children. I think we did. But I understand your question and your concern."

Cinema workers are still far from getting their rights.

The panel titled “In the Footsteps of Labour, Struggle, and Solidarity in Cinema” at the AKM Event Tent: Galip Görür, President of the Cinema Workers' Union (SİNE-SEN); Derya Yaman, lawyer for SİNE-SEN; Yeliz Vurgun and Zeynep Çelik, members of the SİNE-SEN Board of Directors; Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu, representative of the Actors' Union; Suna Can Özbulduk, academic; and Rüya Kurtuluş, member of the Halkevleri Board of Directors.

Academic Suna Can Özbulduk, who has researched the history of labour struggles in Turkey's film industry, shared the following information: "First, in 1948, a legal regulation provided tax breaks. Taxes have been one of the most fundamental problems for cinema from its inception to the present day. That is why we do not see any labour or organisation in the film industry among workers until 1948. However, after that, we can say that cinema became an industry in Turkey, as production increased. In 1952, the first organisation took place among machinists due to the long working hours."

By the 1960s, during the Yeşilçam era, cinema had become a powerful industry. The Trade Union Law and the Strike and Lockout Law were enacted. This marked the beginning of the golden age of trade unionism in Turkey, during which numerous associations and organisations were established. Later, influenced by the growing protests against censorship, the “Cinema Workers' Union” was established in 1978, but like all unions, it could not survive the 1980 coup. After a series of permit-ban processes, the Actors' Union was established in 2011, and the Cinema TV Union in 2008.

Actors' Union representative Cem Yiğit Üzümoğlu discussed the problems with current working conditions. Pointing out that, due to the union structure, actors do not have the right to strike or negotiate collective bargaining agreements, the actor continued: "For example, we still work an average of 15 hours. No worker anywhere in Turkey can be made to work as much as an actor does. In the early 2000s, series were 50-60 minutes long, but by the 2010s, they had increased to 90 minutes. This doubles a worker's working hours. Currently, in the Turkish TV series industry, we are shooting 130-minute series for national channels. This means making a 2-hour film in about 6 days."

At this point, SİNE-SEN lawyer Derya Yaman attributed the inability to find a solution to this problem to the presence of too many mechanisms involved: "There are channels, there is the Radio and Television Supreme Council (RTÜK), there are producers. Most importantly, there is TRT, which is a state channel but also hosts projects where labour laws, regulations, and rights are most violated. I always included TRT as a party by involving them in the mediation processes. TRT, despite attending all the meetings, withdrew from the matter by saying, ‘We have no responsibility.’"

“Women want justice, not revenge.”

In the second part of the panel, another significant but often overlooked issue — mobbing and harassment — was addressed. Yeliz Vurgun, a member of the SİNE-SEN Board of Directors, shared the results of a survey conducted by the union on this topic within the industry. According to the study, 86% of participants reported encountering oppressive, demeaning, or exclusionary behaviour directed at themselves or female employees on sets. The percentage of those who said they faced discriminatory treatment because they were women was 62%. Meanwhile, 81% of participants reported experiencing harassment, violence, mobbing, and boundary violations on sets or in office environments. Examples given under this response include bullying by directors and supervisors, exposure to physical violence, verbal and physical harassment by drunk actors, persistent physical contact despite warnings, and male employees using the women's restroom. Despite all this, 67% of participants stated that there is no reliable mechanism they can turn to in such situations.

Zeynep Çelik stated, “Mobbing is defined worldwide as ‘collective harassment,’” and pointed out that there is currently no legal regulation against mobbing. In contrast, Çelik stated that, in line with the Court of Appeals' decisions, which define mobbing as an “exceptional circumstance,” audio or video recordings can be used as evidence. “The person subjected to mobbing must first warn the other person; we must confront them about what they are doing. Then they must keep a diary; they must write down when it started and what incident triggered it,” she said. Çelik stated that in such cases, the psychological distress experienced by the victim is considered evidence in court if reported by a psychologist. She added that all correspondence, emails, telephone conversations, and work assignment papers are also considered evidence.

“ We must now be able to distinguish between flirting and sexual assault, between fatherly behavior and unwanted behavior,“ said Rüya Kurtuluş, a member of the Halkevleri Board of Directors, explaining why women need a disclosure mechanism: ”It is not easy to bring up sexual violence within the criminal justice system and find environments where you can comfortably express yourself in court; moreover, punishment rates are much lower. Women resort to these avenues, but their voices still aren't heard. Speaking up at work is also difficult; it can lead to getting fired. That's why women are now disclosing as a method of struggle. Disclosure is an effective form of struggle because it elicits a response from society. While you can't see any sanctions from elsewhere, disclosure makes you heard. It's very important in that sense. In 2018, women in the TV series industry in particular established the ‘SusmaBitsin’ (Stop the Silence) platform. In 2019, revelations by writers exploded; we learned that writers we valued greatly had ruined the lives of young female writers. Last September, revelations began in photography and spread to many other fields, including cinema, theatre, and sculpture. Women are seeking justice, not revenge, through this method."