The Turkish Cinema Summer School, which was organized for the first time this year within the scope of the Turkish Summer School programmes by the Yunus Emre Institute, hosted 23 young filmmakers from 20 different countries around the world, in Istanbul. The young filmmakers from different countries such as the USA, South Africa, Morocco, Russia, England and Iran, had the chance to get comprehensive information on the history of Turkish cinema.

The Summer School which was held for two weeks at the Dragos Campus of İstanbul Şehir University, saw the participants attend a range of sessions on Turkish film. As well as attending lectures on the turning points of Turkish cinematic history, the summer school participants also had a chance to meet with various directors, screenwriters, actors, producers and cinema critics, discussed their work and asked questions.

Furthermore, the summer school gave the students a chance to visit various museums preserving the history of Turkish cinema and significant film studios including, the Cinema and Television Museum of Mimar Sinan University, the Cinema and Theater Museum of Türker İnanoğlu Foundation, the Turkish Cinema Research Center and SEKA Film Studios. Throughout the experience, the students sat through major film screenings of Turkish cinema, having the opportunity to analyse and hold discussions over these with directors and academics.

Journey to the Heart of Turkish Cinema within the Scope of the Summer School  

23 young filmmakers from 20 different countries attended the sessions and workshops held during the Turkish Cinema Summer School from the 30th of July to August 12th 2018.

The organization of the Turkish Cinema Summer School was a very full and comprehensive programme, which saw 9 producer-director-actor meetings with the participation of award-winning directors including Derviş Zaim, Reis Çelik, Atalay Taşdiken and other significant names of Turkish cinema such as Türkan Şoray and Ediz Hun. Moreover, studies were carried out on various subjects including the history of the Turkish cinema, Yeşilçam, female filmmakers, documentaries, Turkish television series and an insight into the current situation of the cinema sector, in 12 different sessions with the participation of 10 academicians. 

Participants attended workshops where they had the chance to watch and analyze a number of important and award-winning films of Turkish cinema, including Kalandar Soğuğu, Güllü, Uzak, Cenneti Beklerken and Karpuz Kabuğundan Gemiler Yapmak.

The young filmmakers visited various museums preserving the history of Turkish cinema and significant film studios, such as the Prof. Sami Şekeroğlu Cinema-Television Museum of Mimar Sinan University, Atlas Cinema, TÜRVAK, the Cinema-Theatre Museum, the Turkish Cinema Research Center and SEKA Film Studios. The participants also had a chance to take part in a contest held within the scope of the summer school, which saw submissions of 11 movies, 4 screenplays, as well as 2 photo stories they had put together, at the end of the program. 

The short movie by Mohamad Eskandarani from Lebanon was deemed worthy of the award for “The Best Short Movie of the Turkish Cinema Summer School”; the short movie by Fatima Mouhammou from Morocco was deemed worthy of the award for “Best Short Movie abroad Introducing Yunus Emre Institute”; the screenplay written by Alessandro Marzullo from Italy was deemed worthy of the award for “The Best Screenplay abroad Introducing Yunus Emre Institute”; and the photo story by Amalia Papa from Romania was deemed worthy of the award for “The Best Photo Story of Turkish Cinema Summer School”.

Through the Turkish Cinema Summer School programme, Yunus Emre Institute aims to ensure that foreign business circles related to the film industry and academia get to know Turkish cinema in place, to improve relations between foreign students and cinema circles with the Turkish cinema sector, to diversify the Summer Schools Project and increase the number of international cooperations between universities.

This year, the Turkish Cinema Summer School saw young filmmakers participate from the United States of America, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Morocco, France, South Africa, Croatia, the Netherlands, England, Iran, Italy, Montenegro, Kosovo, Lebanon, Hungary, Egypt, Poland, Romania, Russia and Serbia.

1000 young people receiving Turkish language education in 29 different cities around Turkey, met in Istanbul between the dates of 6-10 August to discover the historic, touristic and natural beauties of Istanbul. The 9th Turkish Summer School and the first  Turkish Cinema Summer School, organized thematically for the first time this year within the scope of this programme, ended on August 12, 2018.