PDF of Program BookletMavi Boncuk |The Space Between: A Panorama of Cinema in Turkey was the largest retrospective of films from Turkey to be presented in the United States with more than 25 films presenting award winning Turkish films from the 1950s to the present.
Program Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Richard Peña said, “Turkey has an extraordinarily rich cinematic tradition that, despite the growing importance of that country on the world stage, has remained largely unknown to even the most dedicated American film goers. This 29-film series focuses especially on the many socially-engaged works--works often made under difficult and even dangerous conditions--that offered a counterpoint to Turkey's prolific commercial cinema.”
Films were chosen for the rare retrospective show how Turkish cinema, like the country, embraces both the East and the West. The filmmakers are influenced by American and European traditions while incorporating ideas from Egyptian – and more recently - Iranian cinema. Yeşilçam (“Green pine”) is a metonym for the Turkish film industry, similar to Hollywood. The name is derived from Yeşilçam Street in Istanbul where many actors, directors, and crew members were based.
As in Italy and Japan, the existence of a thriving popular cinema inspired filmmakers to create more personal works. Several of the filmmakers moved back and forth between Yeşilçam and more personal projects. Yeşilçam’s heyday was from the 1950s – 1970s.