This article has been published in Turkish in Birgün newspaper on 17.10.2024.
Despite them all, I exist through my films."
Veteran filmmaker Ümit Ünal's latest film, Evcilik (Play House), will be released on October 25th.* In response to Tunca Arslan, a member of the Golden Orange pre-jury, who stated that in the festival there were 'No LGBT, no foreign funded films,' Ünal said, 'Despite them all, I will continue to make the films I want to make.'
If there is anyone we can say is a true representative of the Yeşilçam** tradition in Turkish cinema today, it is probably Ümit Ünal. Starting his career in the 1980s, Ünal, who both took a lot from Yeşilçam and contributed greatly to it during the early years of his nearly 40-year career, formed his own cinematic language in the 2000s and, in a sense, transformed Yeşilçam in his own way. His latest film, "Evcilik," which won him a Golden Orange for Best Screenplay at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, tells the story of a few days of adventure experienced by two married couples from different cultures at a motel in Assos.
The film, which will be released on October 25th, stars Öykü Karayel, Fatih Artman, Deniz Işın, and Nejat İşler, who also won the Golden Orange for Best Actor. İşler also served as the film's producer. Selen Uçer, one of Ünal's favorite actors, also has a small role in the film. We had an interview with Ümit Ünal before the release, discussing both "Evcilik" and the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, which ended under a shadow of controversy.
Evcilik (Play House), like your previous film Aşk, Büyü Vs (Love, Spells and All That), is a story built on class conflict but with love as the main theme... I'm curious how it all started for this particular film.
My sources of inspiration for Evcilik include Milan Kundera's story The Hitchhiking Game, Ruben Östlund's Force Majeur, and Paul Schrader's The Comfort of Strangers. I find it fascinating how a seemingly insignificant or playful incident can bring to the surface all the hidden contradictions in a couple's life and completely change them. I tried to add a layer of "envy" to this. I wrote the screenplay in 2014, but it couldn't be made for a long time, and it was left in a drawer. Sofra Sırları (Serial Cook) and Love, Spells and All That took precedence. Thanks to Nejat İşler's enthusiasm for the script and his persistent support, we were able to make it.
We stayed in the location where we shot the film, Hotel Eren, for a week in the summer of 2013. Sivrice, near Assos, was a more secluded place back then. The part that there were no other guests at the hotel, and the couple was alone, happened to us exactly as it happened in the film, but the subsequent events were, of course, entirely fictional. While writing this screenplay, I had always imagined Sivrice and Hotel Eren. When it came to making the film, we coincidentally learned that the hotel was now vacant and rented it for two months. Not every director is lucky enough to make a film in the location they imagined while writing it.
In Love, Spells and All That there was indeed a class-based dilemma in Eren and Reyhan's love, but here there is also a cultural tension. As a director and writer, you seem to take a side... Would you like to elaborate on this a bit?
Class and cultural tensions are indeed at the core of the story. There's a mutual envy, even jealousy, between the wealthy urban and poor rural couples in the film. The rural couple, played by Nejat İşler and Deniz Işın, envy the affluent life and freedom of the urban couple, played by Öykü Karayel and Fatih Artman. The urban couple, in turn, envy the rural couple's deep love, apparent 'innocence,' and joy of life. As the writer and director, I believe I tried to look at both sides equally, but perhaps my own class background drew me closer to the side of the rural couple who I felt were wronged.
Is love, or let's say a romantic relationship, a battlefield?
Kafka once said, and I'm paraphrasing as I don't have the source in front of me, "What happens between a man and a woman and ends in bed is like a war." (You could adapt this to same-sex couples as well.) A love relationship, especially at the beginning, often turns into a battle for possession. "I won, I own you." It takes years for a person to develop a mature, trusting, fearless relationship based on equality, free from the traumas of the past. Some unfortunate souls never find such a relationship in their lifetime.
The film takes its name from a children's game: Playing house. What was your intention behind using this metaphor?
The film is about people who endlessly pretend. They pretend everything is fine, that they're very happy, and they pretend to be in love by imitating others. They do this not out of malice, but as a childlike game. However, children can be much crueler than adults. There is a hidden cruelty within this game.
Evcilik is another film of yours that navigates the waters of dark comedy. Do you think this type of humor is more suitable for contemporary Turkey? (It feels like there are things to bitterly laugh about amidst all this darkness.)
I've been in the waters of dark comedy since my first screenplay, nearly 40 years ago. I'm not a comedian; I'm very envious of comedians who can make people genuinely laugh, it's a very difficult job. Humor requires a deep understanding of the zeitgeist and the selection of very accurate, contemporary references that everyone can understand. The dark humor elements that are present in almost all of my films might make the audience laugh 'bitterly' even though my main goal is not to make people laugh.
Is it becoming increasingly difficult to make 'independent cinema' (I don't even know what that means in Turkey anymore) in our country? We see that Nejat İşler is also involved in the film as a producer. What was the process of making and financing this film like?
Nejat came to Scotland in August 2023. He also visited Glasgow, and we sat down for a chat one afternoon. He told me about his plans of starting an independent production company and said he was looking for a project. I told him about Evcilik. As soon as I finished the story, he said, "Okay, let's make it." I'm not entirely sure about the subsequent financing stages, to be honest. At some point, Sky Films and Emre Oskay joined the project, and the film was shot with the production team they brought in. I brought in my own friends: cinematographer Aydın Sarıoğlu, production designer Elif Taşçıoğlu, and editor Melike Kasaplar. I don't even know the film's budget eaxctly, but I think we can say that it was much more modest than many other films and TV series being made in the market.
Is there a plan for a screening on one of the digital platforms after the theatrical release?
The film will be released in cinemas on October 25th*. The producers are in talks with digital platforms for the subsequent release, but I don't know which one it will be at the moment. They will announce it soon.
What were the audience reactions at the Antalya Film Festival, where the film had its world premiere? What kind of questions did the audience ask during the Q&A?
The audience had a very positive reaction. With years of experience, I can now tell from the audience's reactions during the first screenings, from how they respond to the jokes to the expressions on their faces when the lights come up, what kind of future awaits the film. The questions that came up (except for one person who interpreted a dream sequence in the film very comically) showed that they understood the film very well. For example, the issue of cultural and class conflicts that we discussed earlier went down very well with everyone. I think this is the film that I've connected with the general audience most easily.
The Antalya Film Festival faced a censorship controversy last year, which almost led to its cancellation. Do you think the Turkish film industry responded adequately or comprehensively to this issue? For example, did the industry's stakeholders come together (either physically or virtually) to discuss the situation?
I looked back at the archive news from the 2005 Golden Orange Awards, about 20 years ago: Aynur sang a Kurdish song at Mercan Dede's closing concert. Ferzan Özpetek was the jury president again. Reha Erdem's Korkuyorum Anne (I'm Scared, Mom), one of my favorite films, was overlooked, and the award was given to a young director's first film who never made another movie. I was there, and as an audience member, I was incredibly disappointed. We've come a long way since then. Now, a Kurdish song on the festival stage is unimaginable. Now, a man on the pre-jury can make unfortunate and arrogant remarks like, "There were no LGBT or foreign funded films at the festival," and "The era of films that look too critically at Turkey is over." So, if Aşk, Büyü vs were made this year, it wouldn't be able accepted in the competition. So, in this "new era," will the festival only feature state-supported films with mild content? Will the aesthetics of TV series dominate the festivals?
It's clear that the government is trying to change festivals, just like many other fundamental institutions, and even shut them down if necessary. Last year's censorship situation was a terrible management disaster. But I found this year's boycott calls strange. Yes, things are getting worse every year, but is the solution a boycott? I think this is like protesting by silencing ourselves, which is exactly what they want us to do. If someone is trying to silence and transform the festival, is the best answer to say, "Here, take it," and step aside? Should the Golden Orange, which has become a part of our cinema history and has been entrusted to today's filmmakers, be left to the mercy of people like that, who won't allow "LGBT and foreign funded films"? Are we, the participants in the festival, approving of these people and giving them legitimacy? Should we all become invisible, just as they want? Should we just watch as the Golden Orange, like the country's other fundamental institutions, slips away from our hands? I will continue to make the films I know how to make, to tell the stories I love, and to try to participate in festivals. If in the future, one of my films, or any film for that matter, is not accepted into a festival because it's LGBT-themed or "excessively critical," I will raise hell.
You also received an award for Best Screenplay. How do you feel about the awards here?
I arrived in Antalya late, so I couldn't see the other award-winning films. So it wouldn't be right for me to comment on the competition results. I don't know if the change and transformation I mentioned earlier is limited to the pre-jury or if it has also spread to the main jury. But as someone who has been the jury president in Adana and Istanbul and a jury member in countless other festivals, I know that these things are a bit of luck. As Emre Yeksan wrote on Twitter the other day, in any festival, instead of troubling the juries, it might be better if the results were left entirely to chance, and for example, we rolled the dice. I'll be honest: After 38 years and many awards in cinema industry, I only attend festivals as a necessary part of the business. I'm hopelessly addicted to telling stories, making films, and sharing my films with audiences. I can't quit this. To keep this going, I have to go to festivals, promote my films, etc. If I win an award, that's great for promoting the film, but if I don't, I don't really care anymore.
Besides cinema, painting and literature also appear as your creative fields. For example, we saw your drawings on the refrigerator in the film. What keeps you creating in all conditions and forms?
After the first screening of the film, the first question during the Q&A was about those drawings. My art director friend Elif hung two of my drawings on the refrigerator that she thought were related to the story of the film. I didn't take them down. I've been writing and drawing since childhood; I see it as the only way to interact with the world and survive. As I said earlier, I can't quit this addiction. Everything around it, the worries of life, must allow this addiction to continue.
I'm sure you get this question a lot, but have you ever considered doing theater, or under what conditions would you be open to theater?
I've thought about it a lot actually. In 2013, during the Scottish independence referendum, I directed a 5-minute short play written in English by Erdem Avşar for an event at the National Theatre of Scotland, and we also filmed it, and it turned out pretty well. I've even written two plays to direct myself. But for a thousand reasons, they were never realised. Then I moved abroad and got away from it. Theater requires face-to-face communication, and it's hard to do it remotely, so I stopped trying. But my desire to direct a play someday still exists. If I find the right environment here or in Scotland, it could happen anytime.
(*) After the publication of the interview the release date has been postponed to 27th December 2024.
(**) Yeşilçam was the name of a street in Istanbul where most of the film production companies were. So it became a nick-name for the mainstream Turkish film industry between 1950's and 1990's.
The original interview: https://www.birgun.net/haber/hadsizlere-inat-filmlerimle-varim-568102
