Mavi Boncuk | Translated from Duvar Interview
A life devoted to cinema: Atilla Dorsay[1]
Atilla Dorsay, who still keeps his notebook with him while watching the movie, said, "The importance given to cinema criticism has decreased, nobody cares about it anymore. Other promotional areas have emerged."
Saturday, June 25, 2022 Time: 08:06
Interview by Bircan Değirmenci
WALL - 1940's... Sümer Cinema at the corner of Şayeste Sokak in İzmir Karşıyaka hosts the movie "Snake Mabude". On the screen, Latin actress Maria Montez dances her extraordinary beauty around a cobra snake. A 6-year-old boy, who had the chance to watch color films for the first time after black and white films, watches the film with admiration in a trance state. Even at that age, by drawing columns in his notebook, writing the name of the movie, the director, the date of the screening, which cinema he watched, with whom he went and his views on the film, he also gave the signals that he would become a "doyenne cinema critic". He is so enthralled by the magic of cinema that he will devote himself to it almost his entire life. This cinema-loving boy is none other than Atilla Dorsay.
We meet Dorsay at the 2nd Izmir Film and Music Festival, where he was deemed worthy of the Labor Award. This time, we turn the projector and rewind the movie for Dorsay, who carried the movies he watched for years to his newspaper column and then perpetuated them with 60 books. We watch a feature film of his colorful and rich past.
His father, Avni Dorsay, a Balkan immigrant, settled in an old Greek house in Karşıyaka, İzmir, on a side street leading to the railway, during the population exchange. Born in 1939, Atilla Dorsay spent a childhood full of happy memories in this house with a large garden among his two sisters and wonderful friends. "I studied at Ankara Primary School for two years. Right next to it was the People's House and one of my best memories is that I witnessed the first one-man theater and concert here when I was 7-8 years old. My first cinema pleasure started in Karşıyaka. There was the Sümer Cinema on the corner of the street. We are talking about the 40s. I watched the movies shot during the war in that cinema. I was the only child of three families. I had two aunts and two uncles. They had no children. Our family had three children. Me and my sisters were almost shared by these three families. Fethiye Aunt and her husband Esat Özveren, who have the best job situation among them, invited me to Istanbul to get a good education at Galatasaray High School, because French was the most popular language of those years and Galatasaray High School was the most popular school.”
'I LOVED ISTANBUL WITH EVERYTHING'
They immigrated to Istanbul in 1949. In order to learn French, she has to study for a year in the preparatory class. Dorsay, who is talented in language learning, takes lessons during the summer and passes the exam in order not to lose a year, and enters Galatasaray in Ortaköy from the 4th grade. He is then promoted to Beyoğlu, as he says. Thus, his life becomes Istanbul, especially Beyoğlu. “I loved Istanbul with everything, I embraced it. The French culture was one of the leading cultures for me.”
His father, who was a civil servant in the State Railways, grew up with a French education, and said "Whatever you are, don't be a civil servant", had a great influence on Dorsay's career choice. “Perhaps he had a few advantages in various aspects, but the civil service was not something my father liked. After graduating from high school, I actually wanted to be a diplomat, as my French and English were very good. Later, I also learned Italian. I'm left with engineering or medicine. It was unlikely that I would become a doctor because I almost fainted at the sight of blood. That's why I chose architecture. I also won the technical university, but they told me, 'Definitely go to the Academy of Fine Arts (later Mimar Sinan University). Because the prettiest college-age girls are there'. I accepted this as a fact. Then I saw that there were some really beautiful girls there. So I graduated as a master architect. The academy was very famous in those years. There used to be an academy ball every year, now it's gone. They were having fun like crazy at that ball. At that time, love and flirting were all over the place. I also fell in love a few times in the academy, but at that age I didn't want to get married. I even had a kind of resistance to marriage. I did not believe that two people would live together for life. There were parties, I didn't grow up as a politicized person, I grew up having fun at parties. I say this without shame, I have written it in my memoirs.”
Since he knows languages well and likes to contact people face to face, he started translation courses opened by the Ministry of Tourism in 1960. He participates in Anatolian tours before taking the exam. “I saw translation as a tool to get to know Anatolia, especially Istanbul, better and to earn money.” He met his wife, Leman, during his years as a guide. Despite falling in love, he still continues to resist marriage. “But then one falls into a trap, meets someone and decides to get married as soon as you realize that he is the person of your life is the best solution. Leman and I got engaged in 1971, but I broke the engagement, thinking that I was not ready for marriage. This is one of the facts of my life. Leman got up and went all the way to America to his older brother İlhami Karaca. It was a shame to break off the engagement and leave that woman in the middle of the road, but I did it. Then I regretted a lot, I realized that I could not do without him, letters, these are these... It was a very romantic event. He returned to Turkey and gave me a chance. We got married in 1973. I was 34 years old. It was a reasonable marriage for Leman as well, and it has continued to this day. We have two children, Gökhan and Ece, and three grandchildren.”
YOUR PASSION IS CINEMA, WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AND BECOME A FILM CRITIC'
For Dorsay, who came to İzmir on weekends while he was doing his military service in Manisa Salihli, and continued to watch the films in the vision, Turkish cinema also seems attractive. After his military service, he started to work as an architect for the Istanbul Municipality in 1966. He continues to provide guidance until 1990. But the passion for cinema trumps everything. “I have become a person who has four arm hooks, who has a hand in everything, who wants to try everything. On the one hand, architecture and guidance continued, but I said, 'my brother, your real passion is cinema and you must do whatever you can to become a movie writer'. In those years, I used to read Cumhuriyet Newspaper as it is today. The cinema writer of the Republic had gone to Paris after receiving a scholarship for one year. I wrote reviews of a few movies that were playing at that time and went to the newspaper. He was the editor-in-chief of the eagle-eyed Ecvet Güres. He said, "Take them to the editor-in-chief, Erol Dallı. They are the milestones of my life, so I will never forget them. It was the biggest surprise of my life, and that weekend my reviews appeared in the newspaper. Since then, I have been the newspaper's film writer.
FRIENDSHIP WITH YILMAZ GUNEY
He started to become increasingly politicized as he started to write for Cumhuriyet newspaper and played a role in the cultural life of the Cinematheque Association. “We became close and friends with Cinematek director Onat Kutlar and Yılmaz Güney, who is very close to him and has two basic characteristics: being a leftist and being a Kurd. He had very painful days and I was the main writer who followed him closely in those days. I went to visit him from Selimiye Barracks to his conviction on the island of Imrali and had conversations with him. I couldn't even publish some of them, especially after 80. It was not possible to publish them. We published it in Milliyet Sanat, which was published for 15 days at that time, and even it received a great reaction. Güney, to whom I have a special interest in both his films and his personality, has also been the subject of one of my books. In the meantime, I followed the left ideology more closely and acquired some principles. I'm sorry, I haven't read Karl Marx's 'Capital' book and I still haven't, but labor has been the thing I value most. After that date, I gave an incredible importance to labor and labor. I treated every working person as my friend, it was a behavior that stigmatized my life.”
Expressing his hatred of racism at every opportunity, Dorsay writes the book 'I Saw Racism, I Know It'. “I have defined and condemned racism as one of the greatest human sins. In the same way, I realized that no people can protect themselves from this scourge called racism. Anyone who reads that book understands this. We are also involved in racism, and our behavior against minorities and perhaps still against Kurds and Kurdishism is discussed from time to time. How can the behavior of Americans towards Indians and even still blacks be forgiven? Just like the examples the French made to the Algerians. Unfortunately, it can be thought that racism is a common policy and a form of action. I have always kept my own consciousness alive against these and have always defended these principles in my books despite my advancing age.”
He continued to write for Cumhuriyet Newspaper during the September 12 coup. “There was a half coup on March 12, 1971, but after 80 it was very heavy. At that time, you could not talk about Yılmaz Güney. He died in Paris in 1983. Apart from that, leftist organizations have been subjected to great pressure. There is no other period after the 90's, there is no military coup, but Turkish cinema went into a great depression for various reasons. A new generation has arrived since 95. I also watched that generation closely. My cinema books published in recent years are related to these.”
MY MAIN AUTHORSHIP IS MY MILESTONES BOOKS'
With the Cumhuriyet Newspaper, which Dorsay started in 1966, they parted ways in 1993. “I worked in Cumhuriyet for 27 years, this is a record. It is not a very visible event for a journalist to work for a newspaper in the field of culture in the same year. Actually, they screwed me up, they didn't recruit me and I worked without a staff for 27 years. When the laws were passed so that I could retire, it took care of itself and my pension was tied.”
He continued to write for Milliyet for one year, then for Yeni Yüzyıl and Sabah newspapers. After leaving Sabah Newspaper, he started to write for T24 in 2014 upon the call of Hasan Cemal. “There is no payment, but writing here provides a free space. It has no limitations and no censorship. Due to space constraints, the articles are published without interruption. My main writing is my milestone books. The criticisms I write, which every criticism is very valuable to me, is a struggle. I gather all the information about that film, that director, and all its history, and use it in the article, and as a result, a criticism emerges. I collected these criticisms in books from the 70s. I also collected my travels as a jury member in books.
'INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS SHOULD BE SUPPORTED'
Following every filmmaker, Dorsay attaches importance to supporting independent filmmakers. “The French discovered cinema in 1895, but Hollywood took it and made it their property. It became the ruler of world cinema by investing large capital and establishing the star system for the first time, but even in America, there is an independent cinema, they support it, and very good products come out of it. In all cinemas, films that appeal to the audience, that were created with large capital, but that are more unpretentious but that serve the art of cinema more, were produced. This has always existed in Turkish cinema as well. There are more today. Because there are no large capitals gathered in a few companies as before. Each movie becomes a separate project. Independent cinema opened the way. Our job is to support him.”
Apart from Yılmaz Güney, Türkan Şoray is one of the actors who has an important place in Dorsay's life. “It is the brightest star of the four-leaf clover. He contributed a lot to the cinema, he made extraordinarily beautiful films. A 'Vesikalı Yarim' and 'Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım' are not easily forgotten films, they are masterpieces of our cinema. We also became friends with Fatma Girik to the same extent. Although we are close with Hülya Koçyiğit, she has recently suffered a bit of an earthquake due to some reasons. Filiz Akın lived a very important part of her life in Paris due to her husband's duty, she stayed away from the cinema and we. I have great respect for these four women who work in cinema. They are still remembered and cherished. We are more devoted and fond of the idols of the cinema than any other society.”
'CINEMA CRITICISM HAS REDUCED'
Dorsay, who still keeps his notebook with him while watching the movie, uses these notes as the skeleton of criticism. “From the age of 12, I used to collect the reviews of all the movies I saw in my notebooks. These notebooks have survived fires or something, but they are all in the drawers. I would like to use these as an Atilla Dorsay museum document that I dream of in the future. Keeping these notebooks at that age is an indication. After the premiere of an important film, microphones were held at us immediately, and we would say our criticisms of the film in a few sentences. Now this does not exist because the importance given to cinema criticism has decreased, no one cares about it anymore, other promotional areas have emerged. You cannot say what you want to say properly. I keep what I want to say in my writings. After the press screening, hot criticisms are published. There is a good generation of critics in Turkey, I do not despise young critics at all. Of course, despite everything, our pioneers are very important, and we should always remember them with gratitude and longing. There is Tuncay Okan who showed us how to give stars for the first time in Milliyet. Semih Tuğrul, Jak Şalom, who wrote in the cinema magazine, and Tanju Akerson were highly critical. We should not forget Turan Gürkan and especially Agah Özgüç for his contributions to Turkish cinema, if not as a critic. Today, I can honestly say that there are some writers whose criticisms I am happy to watch, but besides these, there are so-called movie writers who do not understand where they came from, nobody knows them, their way of using Turkish and cinema information is insufficient, but internet sites publish their criticisms. Of course, we are a free country, and I am not in the mood to complain about them either.”
'My interest in QUALITY CINEMA STARTED AT THE AGE OF 6-7'
In addition to "The Snake Mabude", which was one of the first films he watched, "Casablanca" and "Miss Miniver", which are about love during the war, are among the films that he cannot forget. “'Mrs. Minniver' tells the story of a family from London during the Nazi bombardment. I remember going into the movie and seeing myself as a bombshell in England. Both the fantastic and the heroes are not children. My interest in quality cinema started when I was 6-7 years old. I have watched 'Casablanca' 7-8 times, Stanley Kubrick's '2001: Star Trek Adventure' is for me a combination of fantastic cinema and open-mouthed narration. One of the pioneers of the French new wave, 'Hiroshima Mon Amour' had a great impact on me. 'Fight Club' from the recent period is among my favorites. I love the movie 'Three Friends' from Turkish cinema. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 'Three Monkeys' is one of the movies I can't forget. Semih Kaplanoğlu's trilogy is great, I like Derviş Zaim, Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Zeki Demirkubuz, Emin Alper's films. Now a new generation is coming.”
'IZMIR DID NOT SHOW ENOUGH ATTENTION TO THE FESTIVAL'
Dorsay, who was awarded the labor award at the 2nd Izmir Film and Music Festival, makes the following assessment about the festival: “It gives honorary awards to those who have created works. Me and Necip Sarıcı, who promoted these works and created a bridge between the masses and those who created labor, received the Labor Award.
Vecdi Sayar and his team offer you a very good selection from the history of cinema, today, documentaries, local and foreign, whatever comes to mind. The festival has not yet been adequately embraced by the people of Izmir, as the people of Izmir are close to culture. I think it should get more audience. There are posters everywhere, there are promotions, all events are free. It is strange that despite this freedom there is no interest. It should have been watched better. There's also the movie theater problem. It decreased in Istanbul as well, but it was partially compensated by the openings in the shopping malls. The halls need to be reclaimed.”
Continuing his efforts to transfer all the experience and knowledge he has watched and lived through to young people, Dorsay continues to write books as the best tool for this. His two books, 'Controversies, Poems, Fights' and 'All For You: Strange Love Stories', in which he talks about his arguments with many celebrities, will be on the shelves in the fall. Saying "Our duty, our mission is to leave this to the youth as a legacy", we hope that the pen that brings us together with the cinema will not run out.
[1] Atilla Dorsay
Atilla Dorsay (born March 17, 1939, Izmir) is a Turkish film critic, writer, journalist, architect.
After graduating from the State Academy of Fine Arts as a Master Architect in 1964, Dorsay began to write on cinema for the newspaper Cumhuriyet two years later and chose this as his main profession over time. After 27 years of continuous writing for Cumhuriyet, he wrote for the newspapers Milliyet and Yeni Yüzyıl. Most recently, he started writing in Sabah. He left this newspaper with a column he wrote on April 8, 2013, on the destruction of the historical Emek Cinema. Currently, he continues to write for the newspaper Tomorrow's View.
Apart from cinema, he wrote and published articles on food culture, urbanism and life culture. Atilla Dorsay, who is the founding member and honorary chairman of İKSV executive board and SİYAD, is also interested in music. Dorsay, who has been making programs on cinema on TRT 2 since 1986, also made music programs on TRT Radio 3 for nine years from that year to 1995. Later, he took part in the weekly talk show Yaşamdan Minutes, which was broadcast on ATV for a while.
The author, who is a jury member in various festivals and competitions, is the Turkey representative of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics). He also wrote a screenplay for a movie called Citizen Rıza, which was translated in 1979, and he closely watches not only Yeşilçam but also world cinemas. He has written more than 40 books to date.
In an interview with Can Dündar, he describes his beginning as a cinema critic as follows:
"Turkish cinema was also in a state of great leap forward in the late 60s. Lütfü Akad was making his best films. The Yılmaz Güney incident broke out with the movie Seyit Han and I was very excited. And when the year 1970 came and the movie Umut exploded like a bomb, I talked to the newspaper executives. and I started to write about Turkish cinema. And with the films of Yılmaz Güney, I became a Turkish cinema critic as well, and this has continued without a hitch ever since. So much so that your articles in the 70s, a little bit from the movie 'Hope' (Yilmaz Guney) It was published as "Sinemamızın Umut Yılları/ Years of Hope".
Awards
- Legion d’honneur
- Palmes académiques
- TDK Basın Ödülü
- İstanbul, İzmir ve Antalya Film Festivalleri Emek Ödülleri
- 2010: Altın Koza Film Festivali – Yaşam Boyu Onur Ödülü
Books
- 1977 - Mitos ve Kuşku, 1977, Görsel Yayınlar
- 1984 - Sinema ve Çağımız 1, 1984, Hil Yayın
- 1985 - Sinema ve Çağımız 2, 1985, Hil Yayın
- 1986 - Beyaz Perdede Kırmızı Filmler, 1986, Cep Kitapları
- 1986 - Yüzyüze, 1986, Çağdaş Yayınları
- 1986 - Sinemayı Sanat Yapanlar, 1986, Varlık Yayınları
- 1986 - Yönetmenler, Filmler, Ülkeler 1, 1986, Varlık Yayınları
- 1988 - Yönetmenler, Filmler, Ülkeler 2, 1988, Varlık Yayınları (ISBN 975-434-009-9)
- 1988 - Yılmaz Güney Kitabı, 1988, Varlık Yayınları (ISBN 975-434-002-1)
- 1989 - Sinemamızın Umut Yılları 1970-80 Arası Türk Sinemasına Bakışlar, 1989, İnkılap Kitabevi (ISBN 975-10-0160-9)
- 1990 - Yüreğimin Orta Yeri Sinema, 1990, Altın Kitaplar
- 1991 - Benim Beyoğlum, 1991, Çağdaş Yayıncılık. 1993, Varlık Yayınları
- 1991 - O İsimler, O Yüzler, 1991, Varlık Yayınları (ISBN 975-434-064-1)
- 1993 - Ağız Tadıyla, 1993, Varlık Yayınları (ISBN 975-434-114-1)
- 1994 - Ajda Pekkan'ın Yüzü ya da Değişimler Çağı, Varlık Yayınları (ISBN 975-434-137-0)
- 1995 - 12 Eylül Yılları ve Sinemamız 160 Filmle 1980-90 Arası Türk Sinemasına Bakışlar, 1995, İnkılap Kitabevi (ISBN 975-10-0899-9)
- 1995 - 100 Yılın 100 Yönetmeni, 1995, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0513-0) -
- 1996 - 100 Yılın 100 Filmi, 1996, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0553-X) -
- 1998 - Sinema ve Çağımız, 1998, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0640-4)
- 1998 - Hayatımızı Değiştiren Filmler 1985-1995, 1998, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0622-6)
- 1999 - 100 Yılın 150 Oyuncusu, 1999, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0690-0)
- 2000 - Sinema ve Kadın, 2000, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0764-8)
- 2001 - Düşen Yapraklar, Geçen Yıllar Işık ve Gölge Yazıları, 2001, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0782-6)
- 2002 - Bir Kıtadan Öbürüne Yaşam ve Ölüm Kentleri, 2002, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0885-7)
- 2003 - Sümbül Sokağın Tutsak Kadını, 2003, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-0612-9)
- 2003 - Ne Şurup - Şeker Şarkılardı Onlar: Kişisel Bir 20. Yüzyıl Pop Müzik Tarihi, 2003, Remzi Kitabevi
- 2004 - İşte Büyü Zamanı Tutkulu Sinema Yazıları, 2004, Nokta Yayınları (ISBN 975-8823-69-8)
- 2004 - Sinemamızda Çöküş ve Rönesans Yılları: Türk sineması 1990-2004, 2004, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-1009-6)
- 2006 - Hayatımızı Değiştiren Filmler 1995-2005, 2006, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 975-14-1148-3)
- 2006 - Bir Eleştirmenin Objektifinden - Through the Lens of a Film Critic, 2006, Altın Portakal Yayınları (ISBN 9944-5665-2-7)
- 2008 - Sinema... ve Unutulmayanlar, 2008, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 978-975-14-1263-8)
- 2009 - Dorsay'ın Penceresinden, 2009, Remzi Kitabevi (ISBN 978-975-14-1360-4)
- 2012 - Hepsi Senin İçin - Tuhaf Aşk Öyküleri -, Atilla Dorsay, (1. Basım) Altın Kitaplar, 2012, Öykü Dizisi, 128 sayfa (ISBN 978-975-2114-39-5) [4]
- 2015 - Hayatımızı Değiştiren Filmler 2005-2015, Remzi Kitabevi