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SaturDox 2010

09/01/2010 @ 11:00 - 03/06/2010 @ 17:00

9 January – 3 July 2010

Starting on 9 January 2010, DEPO and DOCUMENTARIST will organize documentary screenings on every other Saturday. DOCUMENTARIST has been organizing documentary film festivals and independent screenings in Istanbul for the past two years. The screening program at DEPO titled SaturDox will be accompanied by presentations by professionals and academicians working in related fields. A selection of noteworthy examples of international documentary cinema from the DOCUMENTARIST archive and the work of local documentary filmmakers will be included in the program.

The first SaturDox program to run for 6 months will feature a collection of documentary films bearing witness to conditions of humanity around the world: the common ‘identity’ of the Balkans, the assassination of Hrant Dink, the relationships between Palestinian and Israeli people, artists challenging the chain of violence in Central Asia with music, the crisis of the regime in Iran, the ‘heaven’ immigrants from Africa are searching for in Europe, child labor in Mexico and the superhuman efforts of a neurosurgeon in Ukraine… After the screenings which will take place at the annex building of DEPO, the films and related issues will be discussed by guest speakers who are competent on the subjects. In short, documentary will be the subject of conversations every other Saturday at DEPO.

*The discussions will be in Turkish.

SCREENING PROGRAM:

9 January 2010, 17:30

Corridor #8
Dir. Boris Despodov
Bulgaria, 2008, 74’

Discussant: TANIL BORA (Writer, Editor)

Photography: Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov
Editing: Boris Despodov, Gergana Zlatanova
Music: Petar Dundakov
Sound: Momchil Bozhkov
Production: Martichka Bozhilova, AGITPROP – Bulgaria
Contact: bpa@art.acad.bg
http://www.corridor8.info/

“Corridor #8” captures the moods, the prejudices and the hopes of people paradoxically living ‘far away, so close’ to each other in three Balkan countries. The film is a mosaic composed of fragments from the everyday lives of the characters who live along a non-existent Balkan road passing through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. Corridor #8 is also a huge EU infrastructural project meant to link the Black and the Adriatic Seas, already a decade in the planning.

Selected Awards:
* Berlin International Film Festival Ecumenical Jury Prize, 2008
* Canadian International Documentary Festival – Emerging Artist Award (Boris Despodov), 2008
* Sarajevo Film Festival – “Heart of Sarajevo” Best Documentary Award, 2008
* Union of Bulgarian Filmmakers’ and Bulgarian National Film Center – Best Bulgarian Documentary, 2008

23 January 2010, 19:00

From January 19 to January 19 / 19 Ocak’tan 19 Ocak’a
Dir. Ümit Kıvanç
Turkey, 2007-2008, 45’

Discussant: ÜMİT KIVANÇ (Director)

Writer: Ümit Kıvanç
1st Year: Zuhal Olcay, Meral Okay, Banu Güven, Mehmet Ali Alabora, Şevval Sam, Mahir Günşıray, Hale Soygazi, Halil Ergün, Derya Alabora
2nd Year: Derya Alabora, Taner Birsel, Bennu Yıldırımlar, Erkan Can, Serra Yılmaz, Settar Tanrıöğen
Camera, Editing: Ümit Kıvanç
Closing Theme: Serdar Ateşer
Team: Murat Taş (assistant), Melek Hüyüktepe (1st year), Tahir Ceylan (1st year), Garo Paylan (2nd year) and Hrant’s friends
Translation: Nazım Dikbaş
Contact: sand@ttmail.com

What happened after the assassination of the Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul? The story of a justice disaster told by prominent Turkish actresses and actors.

Hrant Dink, writer and editor of Agos newspaper was shot in the middle of the street in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. The assassination was the consequence of a systematic slander and provocation campaig; Hrant was convicted for writing and saying things that he would never write or say. He was threatened, cornered and finally they shot him. The assassination caused a big reaction; his funeral was attended by over 100 thousand people who cried out “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian.” It was clearly evident that numerous state officials were involved in the planning and realization of the murder: some condoned it and some actively participated in the process. Even though the murderer and the few lumpen nationalist men around him were caught within a few days and the investigation unearthed many horrifying facts, all state officials who had been involved were somehow protected and their legal interrogation was prevented. On top of all this, the way the murderers were treated by the police and the courts was heartbreaking for all who demand justice. This film documenting the two-year process has been circulating locally and internationally and is still the only reference material on the issue.

6 February 2010, 19:00

Prison No. 5 / 5 No.lu Cezaevi
Dir. Çayan Demirel
Turkey, 2009, 97’

Discussant: MURAT PAKER (Bilgi Univ., Dept. of Psychology)

Script: Çayan Demirel
Camera: Koray Kesik
Editing: Burak Dal
Music: Ahmet Tirgil
Production: Ayşe Çetinbaş, Surela Film Yapım
Contact: ayse_cet@hotmail.com

The period between the military coup on 12 September,1980 and the year 1984 is called the ‘ferocity period’ by the convicts of Diyarbakır Prison. Here, due to unimaginable torture and abuse, 32 people lost their lives, hundreds were maimed and thousands of lives were changed permanently. The flag and the national anthem which are sacred for a nation have become a tool for oppression and torture. This documentary exposes the systematic torture that took place in this prison between 1980 and 1984 via testimonies of witnesses. Although Diyarbakır Prison Nr. 5 was closed after all that happened, the fact that the “Kurdish problem” and the “Turkish problem” still persist demonstrates that in order to create a healthy society, it is time to face the past and most importantly to come to terms with it.

Selected Awards:
* Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival Best Documentary, 2009
* SIYAD Best Documentary, 2010

20 February 2010, 19:00

Me and Nuri Bala / Ben ve Nuri Bala
Dir. Melisa Önel
Turkey, 2009, 60’

Discussants: NİL MUTLUER (Amargi, Social Scientist) and ESMERAY (Performance Artist)

Director, Camera, Editing: Melisa Önel
Production: Melisa Önel
Contributing Editors: Özcan Vardar, Didem Pekün
Sound: Öğünç Hatipoğlu
Project Consultants: Nil Mutluer, Berke Baş
Contact: melisa@melisaonel.com
http://www.meandnuribala.com/

“Me and Nuri Bala”, is a film on Esmeray – a transvestite feminist activist who shatters many categories related to womanhood and manhood in Turkey. A personal quest to understand her experience and what defines a certain gender – a body and a place one belongs to. From the streets of Istanbul to the eastern villages of Kars, the film takes us back and forth between the longing for belonging and the realties that shape our identities.

Selected Awards:
* 46th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival – Best First Documentary Award, 2009

6 March 2010, 19:00

Blue Helmets: Peace and Dishonor
Dir. Raymonde Provencher
Canada, Congo, 2007, 73’

Discussant: EVREN BALTA PAKER (Yıldız Teknik Univ., Dept. of International Relations)

Editing: Denis Boisvert
Camera: François Beauchemin
Sound: Marcel Fraseroriginal
Music: Robert M. Lepage
Production: Raymonde Provencher, Patricio Henriques, Robert Cornellier
Contact: info@macumbainternational.com

Their blue helmets symbolize hope. They are sent to countries where entire populations have been devastated by bloody conflicts. Soldiers from every corner of the world serve as representatives of their countries and work on behalf of the United Nations. Their role is to keep belligerent factions at bay, and to protect civilians. At least, that is their official mandate. Recently, a steady stream of accusations has been directed to some of the peacekeepers, ranging from paying for sex, sexual abuse and rape of underage girls, to the abandonment of thousands of newborn babies. In “Blue Helmets” victims and witnesses speak out. Filmed mostly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this documentary looks at the consequences of this behavior – women being turned away from their homes, children suffering the effects of trauma, and families bearing the burden of social shame.

Selected Awards:
* The Beyond Borders Media Award, 2008

20 March 2010, 19:00

Paradise – Three Journeys in This World
Dir. Elina Hirvonen
Finland, 2007, 51’

Discussant: DİDEM DANIŞ (Galatasaray Univ., Dept. of Sociology)

Screenplay: Elina Hirvonen
Photography: Jarkko Vitanen
Editing: Annukka Lilja
Sound: Kimmo Vänttinen
Music: Hans Wessels
Production: Sari Lempiainen, Elina Hirvonen
Contact: foffice@elomail.uiah.fi

A film about dreams, immigration and Spanish tomatoes. “I thought that when I go to Europe, everything would be fine. When I came to Europe, I cried. When I came to Spain, I cried.” Elina Hirvonen’s film is a poetic documentary about immigration from Africa to Europe. In the first journey we travel along the route of tomato trucks to Almeria, Spain, where illegal immigrants from Africa harvest vegetables for European consumers. Vegetable growing has turned Almeria into one of the richest areas in Spain. A large number of the people who work in the greenhouses are illegal immigrants who provide good and cheap labour force.

Selected Awards:
* Finland Nordic Glory Film Festival – Main Prize, 2007
* IDFA – Student Prize, 2007
* Tampere Film Festival – Special Prize, 2008
* Rodos International Films & Visual Arts Festival – “Ecofilms” 1st Prize, 2008

3 April 2010, 19:00

The Heart of Jenin
Dir. Leon Geller, Marcus Vetter
Germany, 2008, 89’

Discussant: ERHAN KELEŞOĞLU (İst. Univ., Dept. of International Relations)

Photography: Nadav Hekselman
Editing: Saskia Metten
Production: Ernst Ludwig Ganzert & Ulli Pfau, EIKON
Contact: EIKON Media, hourrier@eikon-film.de

Jenin refugee camp. On November 5th, 2005, 12-year-old Ahmed Khatib was shot by an Israeli soldier whilst playing with a plastic gun. “Could my son’s organs save lives?” asks the father through his pain. His death shouldn’t be for nothing. “How long until I have to make a decision?” “Twelve hours,” answer the surprised doctors from Haifa. Despite his grief, the father, Ismael, decides to donate his son’s organs to Israeli children. Four of those children, each from a different part of Israel’s diverse society, are alive today thanks to Ismael Khatib’s courageous act. “The Heart of Jenin“ is a powerful and moving film by Leon Geller and Marcus Vetter. The story takes us to Israel, into the occupied territories, to the people who have learnt to live with everyday conflict and violence, and who, even so, have not given up their hope for peace.

Selected Awards:
* Berlin Film Festival – Cinema of Peace Prize, 2009
* “Movies that matter” Amnesty International Film Festivali – Audience Award, 2009
* Toronto International Film Festival – Official Selection, 2008
* Locarno Film Festival – Official Selection, 2008
* DOK Leipzig Festival – DEFA-Furtherance Award, 2008
* Dubai International Film Festival – Audience Award, 2008

17 April 2010, 19:00

Letters to the President
Dir. Petr Lom
Canada, Iran, 2009, 74’

Discussant: YÜKSEL TAŞKIN (Marmara Univ., Dept. of International Relations)

Camera and Editing: Petr Lom
Consulting Editors: Anna Contomitros, Jean Tsien
Production: Petr Lom
Executive Producer: Behrooz Hashemian
Co-production: ARTE France, Point du Jour
Contact: office@filmstransit.com

Every year nearly ten million Iranians place their last hope in a nondescript building in Tehran: this is where they send their letters to President Ahmadinejad and where these letters are read, considered, and answered. The film allows everyone to have their say – those who contradict themselves three times in a single sentence, those who, out of fear, say nothing at great length, and those who openly say what they think. From the restrained editing emerges a snapshot of a country in which people are worried – about the cost of food, the Americans, the power supply, the way to paradise, whether the world realizes that Islam stands for justice, and about the new jewelry regulations. “Letters to the President” demonstrates how difficult it is to form a conclusive judgment about the politics of a country where pragmatism, religious practice, political strategy, and systematic manipulation are all part of one and the same system.

Selected Awards:
BIAFF Best Documentary Film, 2009

1 May 2010, 19:00

The Inheritors
Dir. Eugenio Polgovsky
Mexico, 2008, 90’

Discussant: ASLI ODMAN (Bilgi Univ., Dept of History)

Editing: Eugenio Polgovsky
Photography: Eugenio Polgovsky
Sound: Cristian Manzutto
Music: Bande Mixe de Oaxaca
Production: Tecolote Films
Contact: tecolotefilms@gmail.com

In the Mexican countryside, children begin to work at an early age. “The Inheritors” is a portrait of their lives and their daily struggle for survival. These children work, farming, sculpturing and painting alebrijes, shepherding, making bricks, weaving cloth, looking after their little siblings, collecting water, harvesting tomato, chili, maize, and labouring in a myriad of other activities. They have inherited tools and techniques from their ancestors, but they have also inherited their day-by-day hardship. Generations pass and child workers remain captive in a cycle of inherited poverty.

Selected Awards:
* Festival of New Latin American Cinema – Grand Prize, 2008
* Mexican Academy of Film Arts and Sciences – Best Documentary, 2009
* Guadalajara Film Festival – Feisal Prize, 2009
* Festival de la Memoria Best Documentary, 2009
* Documentary Festival Santiago International Documentary Festival – Best Documentary, 2009

15 May 2010, 19:00

Grozny Dreaming
Dir. Mario Casella, Fulvio Mariani
Switzerland, 2008, 95’

Discussant: AYŞE TÜTÜNCÜ (Musician)

Screenplay: Mario Casella
Photography: Fulvio Mariani
Editing: Marianne Quarti
Music: Caucasian Chamber Orchestra directed by Uwe Berkemer
Production: Peacock Film, Iceberg-Film
Contact: peacock@peacock.ch, gd@icebergfilm.ch

The Caucasian Chamber Orchestra and their German-Georgian conductor want to show that it is indeed possible to live and work together, side by side, even for people from different religions, cultures and ethnic origins. In 2007, the orchestra, which was created a few years back in Tbilisi (Georgia), had an ambitious objective: a peace tour through the Caucasus. At the conclusion, the musicians wanted to cap this experience with a dream: a concert in Grozny. This documentary shows the genesis of this project and backstage events, as well as the joys and pains of a musical project the notes of which will resound in the mountains of the Caucasus that has been a stage for war plays, massacres and interethnic tensions for centuries.

Selected Awards:
* Gran Prix Lessinia, 2008
* Trento – Special Award “Solidarity”, 2009

29 May 2010, 19:00

Blind Loves
Dir. Juraj Lehotský
Slovakia, 2008, 77’

Discussant: NAZMİYE GÜÇLÜ (Writer)

Writer: Marek Leščák, Juraj Lehotský
Cinematography: Juraj Chlpík
Editor: František Krähenbiel
Production: Marko Škop, Ján Meliš, František Krähenbiel, Juraj Chlpík, Juraj Lehotský
Characters: Peter Kolesár, Iveta Koprdová, Moro Daniel, Monika Brabcová, Jolana Danielová, Anna Brabcová, Zuzana Pohánková, Radoslava Badinková, Elena and Laco with their daughter Gabika
Contact: Marko Skop, skop@artileria.sk
http://www.blindloves.com/

Love can be soft, love can be silly, love can be blind at times… To find one’s place in this world is not an easy thing to do for people with good sight, but how much more difficult can it get for somebody who is blind? The “view” of blind persons is often pure and essential, and very often witty. It uncovers new dimensions of the meaning of happiness.

“Lives of blind people drew my attention as a subject giving possibility to have an insight into the mystery of life in blindness. The fact that someone is born to ‘darkness’ calls for a number of questions about the ways these people live. One of the most important questions in my opinion is where the source of their happiness is. Their world might be lacking sight but on the other hand it can be richer in spirituality. And maybe it’s them who really understand the true essence of happiness.”
–Juraj Lehotsky

Selected Awards:
* Cannes – CICAE Art Cinema Award, 2008
* National nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, 2008
* 4th Zurich Film Festival – Golden Eye for the Best Documentary film 2008
* 10th Motovun Film Festival – FIPRESCI Prize, 2008
* 5th Reykjavík IFF – “Discovery of the Year” Special Mention of the Jury, 2008

12 June 2010, 19:00

The English Surgeon
Dir. Geoffrey Smith
UK, 2008, 93’

Discussant: ZEKİ KILIÇASLAN (İstanbul Univ. Faculty of Medicine)

Screenplay: Geoffrey Smith
Photography: Geoffrey Smith
Editing: Kathy O’Shea
Sound: Darrell Briggs
Music: Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
Production: Geoffrey Smith, Rachel Wexler, Nick Fraser
Contact: geoffrey@eyelinefilms.co.uk
http://www.theenglishsurgeon.com/

When British brain surgeon Henry Marsh first visited the KGB Hospital in Kiev in the early 1990s, he was appalled by the conditions. Patients were dying from simple tumours left untreated. Since then, Marsh has been on a mission to create a viable brain surgery clinic, salvaging discarded equipment from British hospitals and any other tools that may be fashioned to do the job. Geoffrey Smith’s exceptional documentary follows the maverick neurosurgeon on his latest trip to Ukraine, as he once again encounters patients for whom he is their last chance. Marian is among them. Stricken by an enormous, life-threatening brain tumour, we follow Marian through his harrowing brain surgery. Musical score composed and performed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.

Selected Awards:
* HotDocs – Best International Feature Documentary, 2008
* Sheffield DocFest – Most Popular Audience Film, 2009
* SilverDocs – Sterling World Feature Award, 2009

3 July 2010, 19:00

Source
Dir. Martin Marecek
Czech Republic, 2005, 75’

Discussant: HAKAN GÜNEŞ (İst. Univ., International Relations)

Screenplay: Martin Mareček, Martin Skalský
Photography: Jiří Málek
Editing: Martin Mareček
Sound: Ondřej Ježek
Production: Vratislav Šlajer, Barbora Fabiánová, Martin Skalský
Animation, design: Petr Šmalec
Contact: Bionaut Films bionaut@bionaut.cz

Baku in Azerbaijan, the site of the world’s first oil well, once again became a focus for foreign investors eager to exploit the country’s vast oil riches. “Source” traces the pipeline from our commuter highways back to this surreal and sinister landscape on which our way of life depends, where cows graze on polluted land and children play in toxic gunge. With three quarters of the population living under the poverty line, the country’s post-Soviet government is promising oil will transform Azerbaijan into a real country, a prosperous and flourishing “New Kuwait.” But between big oil companies like British Petroleum and the corrupt government lining their pockets, what does this mean for the ordinary people of Azerbaijan? Is this “liquid gold” more of a curse than a blessing for this troubled country?

Selected Awards:
* Trento Film festival – Jury’s Special Prize, 2006
* Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival – Best Czech Documentary Film Audience Award, 2005
* International Leipzig Festival – Award for outstanding Eastern European documentary film, 2005
* Yerevan Sun Child Film Festival – Award for Best Film, 2007

Media

6.1.2010
DEPO`da Belgesel Buluşmaları
CNN Türk

Details

Start:
09/01/2010 @ 11:00
End:
03/06/2010 @ 17:00
Event Category:

Venue

Depo İstanbul
DEPO / Tütün Deposu Lüleci Hendek Caddesi No.12 Tophane
İstanbul, 34425 Turkey
Phone:
+90 (212) 292 39 56 - 57