Turkey’s diary of art becomes film project

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Nebil Özgentürk is the writer and producer of the documentary film project ‘The Diary of our Art.’

A new documentary film project titled “Sanatımızın Hatıra Defteri” (The Diary of our Art) takes audiences on a century-long journey through Turkey’s culture and arts.

Written and produced by Nebil Özgentürk in collaboration with Denizbank, the 13-episode documentary depicts striking, sad and fascinating recent history of Turkey’s cultural, artistic and literary world. The 600-minute documentary is made up of 24 short films telling the story of the significant artists that left their trace on the country’s near history between 1907 and 2007. Among the names are poet Abdülhak Hamit Tarhan, minstrel Aşık Veysel, actress Cahide Sonku, theater actor Müjdat Gezen, ney artist Neyzen Tevik, Nobel laureate writer Orhan Pamuk, composer Münir Nurettin Selçuk, Halit Refiğ and many more.

Their unknown stories are being depicted with the voice of actors Cihan Ünal and Haluk Bilginer and the music composed by Can Atilla. In addition, 24 famous figures including Halil Ergün Erkan Can, Beyazıt Öztürk, Meltem Cumbul, Demet Akbağ, Serra Yılmaz, Tarık Akan, Nefise Karatay, Güven Kıraç, Mustafa Alabora, Ayşe Arman and Candan Erçetin performed in the documentary. The photos taken during their performances were also complemented by the drawings of famous cartoonist Kutlukhan Peker. The documentary, which was launched at a press conference on Feb. 19 at Feriye Restaurant, will soon be aired on CNN Türk television.