CAVA Institute offers film classes from the pros

Emrah GÜLER ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

In the Film Studio Masterclass Program, each week, an experienced name will give a seminar on a specific subject.

Özcan Alper is a young director who wowed the audience and critics alike with his debut feature “Sonbahar” (Autumn) in 2009, and two years later with “Gelecek Uzun Sürer” (Future Lasts Forever), both powerful human stories. With his trademark moustache, Ezel Akay is another filmmaker revered by moviegoers. Having honed his craft as a producer in the 1990s with such award-winners like Derviş Zaim’s “Tabutta Rövaşata” (Somersault in a Coffin), Akay has become a director with a style that is uniquely his own, his latest 2009’s “7 Kocalı Hürmüz” (7 Husbands for Hürmüz) featuring him both as director and actor.

Cahit Berkay is a prolific musician, a member of 1960s and 1970s’ popular Anatolian rock band Moğollar. He is also an award-winning composer of film scores, with nearly 200 movies and TV shows bearing his name. Çiçek Kahraman is a young film editor, who has worked in nearly twenty films since 2006, including the recent crowd-pleaser “Karnaval.” Her name was in the news last week when she won the award for Best Editing in the prestigious Golden Orange Film Festival with “Mavi Dalga” (Blue Wave).

These are a few of the names getting ready to meet anyone willing to learn about the art and craft of filmmaking in Ankara. The groundbreaking arts initiative CAVA (Cinema and Audio Visual Arts) Institute is kicking off its biggest workshop to date, Film Studio Masterclass Program next week.

Program of 12 weeks

The 12-week program will dissect the filmmaking process in an experimental approach, each week focusing on one aspect that will include production, directing, writing, composing for film,  cinematography, art direction, editing and lighting. The program will begin next Sunday at Ankara’s Büyülü Fener movie theater where it will continue until Jan. 5.

Each week, an experienced name will give a seminar on a specific subject. Ezel Akay’s will be “Narratives in Cinema,” director and writer Ümit Ünal will give the “Journey to Script” seminar. Emin Alper, who won the First Movie award in last year’s Berlin International Film Festival with his debut feature “Tepenin Ardı” (Beyond the Hill), among others, and the director of the recent “Şimdiki Zaman” (Present Tense) will share their experiences in the “First Film” seminar.

A year filled with workshops

Other names in the program are actor Güven Kıraç, actor and writer Ercan Kesal, cinematographers Gökhan Tiryaki and Feza Çaldıran, art director Natali Yeres, director Yüksel Aksu, producer Yamaç Okur, editor Thomas Balkenhol, lighting director Engin Altıntaş, along with the four names above. Tufan Taştan, Program Director of the CAVA Institute will also be the Program Director of the Film Studio Masterclass Program.

“While each class will cover one discipline of cinema, the classes will tie in with one another through moderation, helping participants to have integrated knowledge of how to make a film,” said Taştan in a recent interview. “Our objective is to offer an integrated masterclass education to both amateur and professional filmmakers in Ankara.”

Taştan profiled the participants and divided them into three distinct groups, professionals, amateurs willing to take the next step to professional filmmaking, and cinephiles. The seminars will blend theoretical and practical knowledge, technical information, as well as tips from seasoned professionals in the movie business.

CAVA workshops are nothing new to film lovers in Ankara for the last year. Among the workshops that enabled around 200 participants to join seminars given by film professionals and earn certificates were Creating a Film, From Dreams to Reality, Acting for the Camera, Cinema Literacy, Guerilla Filmmaking, Editing Utopia, Actors’ Studio, and From Paper to Camera.

CAVA also partnered with the Dutch Embassy, Ankara and Bilkent Universities for workshops and discussions. The deadline for the Film Studio Masterclass Program is Oct. 17. Check  http://cavaenstitu.net/ for further information.