Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform

Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform 2012 | Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform 2011 | Armenian-Turkish Yerevan Workshop 2010 | Previous Activities | About Anadolu Kultur

ABOUT ARMENIA-TURKEY CINEMA PLATFORM

BUILDING BRIDGES

BETWEEN NEIGHBOR COUNTRIES

Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform (ATCP) was born out of cooperation between cultural and cinema organizations in Armenia and Turkey with the aim of establishing a common network through which filmmakers from both countries are able to cooperate and produce films together. The initiators of ATCP are Anadolu Kültür NGO and the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival.

With cinema as means of promoting social and cultural dialogue between Armenia and Turkey, ATCP serves as a common workplace for cinema practitioners from both countries to jointly develop short and full length film projects, exchange and screen each other’s films, and facilitate cooperation in all aspects of cinema. ATCP is a long-term initiative committed to developing and implementing programs and activities of diverse formats and scales in the coming years.

Everything started with films

Since 2005, over 25 films from Turkey have been screened at the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival.Among these, some of the most popular films have been Waiting For the Clouds by Yesim Ustaoglu, Climates by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, My Marlon and Brando by Husein Karabey, Hidden Faces by Handan Ipekci, and Automn by Ozcan Alper. Many Film producers and directors from Turkey have also visited the Festival as guests and jury members in both the film competition and Directors Across Borders Regional Co-production Forum (DAB), a program of Golden Apricot IFF . In Parallel, in 2006 a special program of Armenian films was screened in Diarbakir and at Bogazici and Bilgi Universities in Istanbul.

In 2008, Anadolu Kultur (Turkey) and Directors Across Borders Regional Co-production Forum initiated more formal cooperation through two cinema workshops: How Cinema Deals With History, organized in April 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey and Cinema as Means of Cross-Border Dialogue and Mutual Understanding, organized in December 2008 in Yerevan, Armenia. The workshops focused on several common goals, including: to develop close cooperation and links between Armenia and Turkey in the field of culture, to establish a film and cultural network; to promote dialogue and exchange of information and cultural heritage; and to organize workshops. Through these two workshops, the Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform (ATCP) was created.

The formal establishment of ATCP was announced in April 2009 during the Meetings On The Bridge program at the 28th Istanbul International Film Festival. As the first practical step in promoting Armenian-Turkish film co-production, in July 2009 ATCP held a Documentary Development Workshop in Yerevan within the framework of the 3rd Directors Across Borders Regional Co-production Forum at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival. Six documentary film projects (three from Armenia and three from Turkey) were discussed during that initial workshop.

ATCP’s next initiative, Making Films Together! Short and Documentary Development Workshop, was held on April 8–10, 2010 within the framework of the Istanbul International Film Festival. Before the workshop, ATCP announced in both countries a call for applications for short film projects (fiction, documentary or animation) on topics that have cultural, historical and social relevance for both countries, and have the potential for co-production. Armenia submitted 15 projects, and Turkey 40. Ten projects were selected to participate in the workshop (five from each country) of which five were awarded grants for development and shooting. From Armenia, Galata by Diana Kardumyan and Neighbours by Gor Baghdasaryan received the full grant. The Master of Doves by Artur Sukiasyan, about dove keepers in Gyumry and Kars, received a partial grant. Full grants were also given to two projects from Turkey, Don’t Get Lost Children! by Gülengül; and Altinaş by scriptwriters Garabet Orunöz and Yüce Yöney, which presents a fragment from the history of an Armenian children's camp in Istanbul. A partial grant was given to the Turkish project, Salute from Agop to Şukru by Cem Öztüfekçi about Armenian and Turkish railway workers along the border received partial financing.

Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform is the borne of two Armenia-Turkey cinema workshops organized within the frameworks of Armenian-Turkish Cultural Initiative. The initiators of the program are Anadolu Kültür Association (Turkey) and Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival(Armenia). Both workshops, organized in April 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey and in December 2008 in Yerevan, Armenia, served to the common goals: to develop close cooperation and close links with Armenia in the filed of culture, establish a film and cultural network between Armenia and Turkey, promote dialogue and exchange between the countries, maintain exchange of cultural heritage, organize workshops, promote a new geopolitical image of the countries in the region. Such issues, as “How cinema deals with history” and “Cinema as Means of Cross-Border Dialogue and Mutual Understanding” were widely discussed at both meetings.

Summarizing meetings mentioned above, the participants from both countries (among them were film directors, producer, scriptwriters, film critics and journalists) proved that the discussions should be followed by practical steps. So the first actions were identified to achieve the above-discussed goals.

Thus, choosing cinema as means of promotion of civil and cultural dialogue between Armenia and Turkey, Armenia-Turkey Cinema Platform will serve as a common workplace for cinema practitioners from the two neighbor countries to develop joint short and full length film projects, exchange of film programs and to facilitate cooperation in all aspects of cinema.

Organizers and participants from both sides will continue the productively started work. Creating on-line forum for wide discussions for film-professionals and identifying future projects, which in future can get a form of an Almanac of short films and/or documentary and feature projects, will be among the first steps of long-term cooperation. The created network aims to unite individual filmmakers and professional organizations and studios, which will discuss common ideas and projects, search for financial sources on both sides and realize it as co-productions.

As a long term initiative, the Platform intends to have several co-productions of different formats and scales during the coming years.