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ANKARA: Film Inspired By A Column By Hrant Dink

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  • ANKARA: Film Inspired By A Column By Hrant Dink

    FILM INSPIRED BY A COLUMN BY HRANT DINK

    Hurriyet
    http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/ lifestyle/11009358.asp?scr=1
    Feb 16 2009
    Turkey

    ISTANBUL - Volunteer artists have gathered to adapt Agos' late
    editor-in-chief Hrant Dink's article 'Kertenkele,' published in
    daily Birgun in October 2004 to the silver screen. The film has been
    directed by national and international award-winning documentary
    maker Ozgur Arık

    Volunteer actors and actresses coming together under the slogan, "Our
    struggle is until this country becomes the land of brotherhoodÃ~I,"
    have shot a 32-minute short film in honor of slain journalist Hrant
    Dink.

    The product of months of work the film, "Kertenkel" (Lizard), was
    inspired by a column published in daily Birgun in October 2004 written
    by Agos editor-in-chief Dink, who was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007.

    Ozgur Arık, a documentary maker who holds many national and
    international awards, directed the film. The film's budget was 40,000
    Turkish liras, provided by the Green Agency and it was shot in the
    Mediterranean city of Antalya.

    Although the film cannot find a movie theater that will screen it,
    there are plans to show it to audiences this year in many national and
    international film festivals, including the International Istanbul
    Film Festival that will be organized by the Istanbul Foundation for
    Culture and Arts, or IKSV, in April. One of the most important planned
    destinations for the film is the International Golden Apricot Film
    Festival to be organized in Armenian capital, Yerevan in July. From
    Feb. 17, the film will be screened with English and Turkish subtitles
    at the Nazım Hikmet Culture Center on Istanbul's Asian side in
    Kadıköy.

    "Being inspired by the painful events Armenians went through and
    with the words of Dink, this film aims to draw attention to the
    pain people are experiencing throughout the world. Unfortunately,
    we fight to live in an environment in which people are moving away
    from each other and becoming enemies," said Arık.

    Arık said the film was based around a character named Abdullah. "A
    lizard, when it feels danger, it shelters in the smallest hole it
    can find, just like Abdullah." He said the content of the story was
    traumatic, "Yes, there is violence in the story but it is based on
    causality. We wanted to highlight once again the cost of excess in
    this film."

    "I have read almost all articles written by Dink," said Arık. He
    said "Lizard" was very important to him, "As soon as I took the paper
    and started reading the article, scenes from the film took shape in
    my mind."

    Supporting characters from local to general Even though Arık
    sticks to the original story in the film, he also backs it up with
    supporting characters. "Rather than localizing the story, we wanted to
    draw attention to pain in the world by showing incidents in our own
    land. Materiality is what lies behind pain all around the world. I
    think economic worries nourish nationalism," Arık said. Arık
    added a hodja character to the film. He said the character, hiding
    behind religion, behaves cruelly toward people and confiscates their
    land. "The hodja prays five times a day but all he thinks about is
    owning more."

    Arık said the film was set in the time of World War I, "While watching
    the film, viewers will be able to see events that happened during the
    war and the effect on people's psychology." He said he intentionally
    shot a short film and that its message was very short and certain. He
    added the film had a mission in addition to commemorating Dink. "With
    this film, rather than agitate, we try to highlight once again that
    everyone who shares this land is a brother."

    The End of the World War The film depicts the end of World War I. A
    young Armenian person, who survived the painful events of 1915,
    shelters in a village in the slopes of Mount Suphan in eastern
    Anatolia. He does not play on the streets like the other young
    people. He lives in the shed of a villager named Ismail and tells
    people nothing except that his name is Abdullah. One day when he is
    in the toilet, other children see he is uncircumcised, and start
    throwing stones at him. With fear, Abdullah shelters in the shed
    and circumcises himself with a sharp tool and then throws the bloody
    piece of skin at the people.
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