TAC at the Adana Film Festival
Right after school, we took buses on an hour long ride to the “Adana Film Festival” which was organized by the Turkish Language and Literature Department. We arrived in the festival area to a modest crowd of security guards and a few reporters and began making preparations for the third day of this international film festival, now in its 24th year. The third day was opened by brief remarks by Mr. Hüseyin Sözlü, the Mayor of the Municipality of Metropolitan Adana. After Mr. Sözlü’s speech, a group of university students, in gold and silver painted costumes, became human statues in the crowd, representing celebrities in history, movies, music and other walks of life. These university students, who have mastered the ability to remain perfectly quiet and still for long periods of time, were very impressive, despite the fact that they actually were not in the visual or performance arts programs. While the jugglers were putting on a small performance right across from the univeristy students, Turkish silver screen veterans, such as Mr. Nuri Alço, were parading in vintage cars. After half an hour, the crowd in the activity area dispersed as the artists moved to the exhibit halls.
While we were viewing the exhibition cubicles, we noticed a large variety in the branch of arts being represented. While some of the group members were chasing an interview with a celebrity, others were discussing the art pieces and the message that was being conveyed by them. Some students were chatting with writers or taking a sneak peek at the books while others spent time with artisans whose speciality was glasswork. The glass artist, who was making evil eye beads in front of us, gave us a present of the finished product as a lasting memory of our time at the exhibition. Towards the end of the visit, Ege Yüceel and Zeynep Can were conducting a poll about whether people preferred festival films over mainstream blockbusters, while Ulaş Kaygısız and Ege Bayram gave interviews to a local TV station. We returned home at the end of the festival at 20:30.
Ulaş Kaygısız