Emrah GÜLER
ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News
The first Ankara Accessible
Film Festival kicks off tomorrow to give those with hearing and vision
impairments the chance to enjoy full access to a festival experience.
Contemporary examples from Turkish and world cinema will be screened in
two different venues throughout the week in Ankara
Many are hoping the film festival, which is being held
for the first time, will become a regular fixture in the festival scene
and inspire similar other events in the future. The Ankara Accessible
Film Festival will run between Sept 4 and 8 at two venues.
Turkey’s first “accessible” film festival is ready to kick off tomorrow in
Ankara with the screening of Rezan Yeşilbaş’s Golden Palm-winning film in last year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Sessiz” (Silent).
The name of the festival is the
Ankara
Accessible Film Festival. And who exactly is it accessible for? With
the average moviegoer’s concerns limited to the mode of transportation
to the theater, the availability of tickets or the choice of
refreshments, the access referred to here is the access for those with
disabilities to become part of the movie-going experience.
Many
are hoping the film festival, which is being held for the first time,
will become a regular fixture in the festival scene and inspire similar
other events in the future. The
Ankara
Accessible Film Festival will run between Sept. 4 and 8 at two venues,
CerModern and Cinemaximum Armada. The festival is organized by Puruli
Culture Art and supported by Turkey’s Family and Social Policies
Ministry.
How will the festival become accessible for those with disabilities? And what falls into the broad definition of the disabled?
“All
of the screenings, discussions and workshops are organized for the full
access of those with impaired hearing and impaired vision,” Ezgi
Yalınalp, the festival’s program coordinator, told the Hürriyet Daily
News. “All screenings will be presented with sign language for audiences
with impaired hearing, and audio description for audiences with
impaired vision. Discussions will also accommodate sign language.”
As
for those without any disability, “they will be able to watch the
screenings with a headset which will be available on request at the
screening venues,” said Yalınalp, who is a member of Puruli, a group
that calls itself “a cultural operator.”
Along with Yalınalp,
Festival Director Emrah Kalan and Festival General Coordinator Kıvanç
Yalçıner constitute Puruli, which organizes alternative projects to open
channels for people to access art that is outside the mainstream and
cannot find a viable place in the commercial cycle.
Competition without ObstaclesSome
of the previous work done by Puruli include a selection of Turkish
shorts to the recent Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival, which
screened a collection of films in
Ankara from the signatories of the Oberhausen Manifesto that kick-started the New
German
Cinema on the 50th anniversary of the Manifesto, and the organization
of the Canlandıranlar Animators Festival held last spring in Istanbul
and Ankara.
“We wanted to provide a chance for those impaired
with vision and hearing a chance to watch a selection of contemporary
films from Turkish and world cinema,” said Yalçıner of the
Ankara
Accessible Film Festival’s selection. “The selection will include
award-winning or popular films released in the last couple of years that
had wowed both the audience and the critics.”
The program
includes international award-winners and box office hits like Martin
Scorsese’s “Hugo,” Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris,” examples from
Turkish cinema that are finding it increasingly difficult to find
theaters for screening, like Emin Alper‘s “Tepenin Ardı” and Erdem
Tepegöz’s “Zerre” (The Particle), as well as a selection of shorts.
“We
also wanted our audience to experience a film competition,” said
Yalçıner, hence the Competition without Obstacles, with six Turkish
films competing for the prize. The Films Without Obstacles section will
feature two films that deal with the theme of disability, Murat Erün’s
documentary “800 km Engelli” (800 km Hurdles), and directors Olivier
Nakache and Eric Toledano’s “Intouchables.” How did the idea for an
accessible festival come up? “The idea that drove us to initiate the
festival was that cultural life can only be enriched when every single
member of the society is able to participate, and everyone has the right
to participate in cultural life. We believe it is necessary to
establish the conditions for those with disabilities to have equal
access to social and cultural lives,” said Kalan. Visit
www.engelsizfestival.com/en/ for more information.
September/02/2013
Eskişehir'de "Türk Kahvesi Geçici Müzesi" açıldı.
