Inan Temelkuran Turkish filmmaker Inan Temelkuran was born in Izmir in 1976. He studied film making in Spain after he received his degree in law in Ankara. He is the director, writer and producer of the award-winning films Made in Europe and Bornova Bornova, both of which are part of Filmpot catalog.
Filmpot’s İlker Cengiz recently sat down with him in Istanbul and talked about many things over the course of an hour. This is Part 2 of our interview. For Part 1 here is your link.
- Interview with Inan Temelkuran
FP: In Made in Europe you told stories of immigrants. Where did the idea come from?
IT: I spent 5 years in Spain. I was working in kebab shops in Spain while studying film making. I lived with immigrants. While I was living with those guys, I witnessed some dialogs and psychology, which were different than any other thing I had seen before in my life, and different than any other immigrant movie had contained. Typical immigrant movies are all same about a big family, a girl wants to get married but there is a conflict between 1st and 2nd generation, integration issues, and drug mafias, should-we-go-back-or-stay questions. Bullshit! That existed in 70ies and 80ies for Turkish immigrants.
But there is this new thing; millions are immigrating seeking a better life, people always migrate, but psychology is very different. There are lots of factors. For example Turkish boss in Germany is the real exploiter of Turkish workers, but you don’t see that in those movies. Friendship takes a form in a different way in Europe. For example, same curse words that can cause murder in Turkey won’t have same affect in Europe because they need each other. There is a different form of kinship.
Definition of being man changes for immigrants in Europe. In Turkey it is about taking care of family, being strong, and honor. There a man’s honor is constantly crittered and he has to live with it. And their weird relationship with women and with immigrants from other countries is another aspect. Turkish people with their own inferiority & superiority complexes compare themselves with other immigrants and think they deserve better. When they see a beautiful Spanish girl with an Arab guy, they question why. They think ‘the girl should be with me not that stupid guy’.
FP: Will you consider going back to immigrant stories?
IT: I did a pretty good job with Made in Europe. Maybe 10 years later. I would like to see where they get with their lives.
FP: Looking back, what would you have done differently in Made in Europe?
IT: I didn’t have any money, and money means time. If I went to a location for one night, I had only one night to finish the scene. Due to budget and time limitations, sometimes you have to accept even though you know it is not good enough. If we had money; there is this scene in an antique shop where a chandelier falls, and it should have been a bigger chandelier. On the other hand I’m asking myself ‘is my movie about that or psychology of people’? It is about the latter, so small chandelier doesn’t bother me much. But it would have been a better scene with a bigger chandelier.
[to be continued…]
