Contemporary Turkish Film Festival: Window into Life, Culture in Turkey at the Penn Museum
Turkish cinema, an important part of the arts and culture scene in Turkey, is a flourishing industry characterized by a wealth of independent filmmakers, enthusiastic audience support nationally and increasing recognition and accolades in international film circles. With smaller budgets than the average American production, and more of a focus on serious or heavy subjects, Turkish cinema is often described as “video art” within the country.
This fall, the Penn Museum, in conjunction with the Turkish American Friendship Society of the US (TAFSUS), presents Philadelphia area film-goers with a rare offering: a curated festival of celebrated Turkish films, running Friday, September 30 through Sunday, October 9. Six films ranging from dramas to an English-language travel documentary offer audiences insight into contemporary Turkish culture. Evrim Kaya, editor and co-host of On Seansi, a weekly Turkish television program on Hayat TV about cinema, introduces the films. Admission is $10 per film.
The Turkish Film Festival is presented in honor of The Golden Age of King Midas, a special world-exclusive exhibition of treasures from the Republic of Turkey, on view through November 27. Admission to the Museum and the special exhibition, open during regular Museum hours, is additional.
In selecting films for the festival, Lale Iskarpatyoti, TAFSUS vice president, a Turkish cinema fan, and the festival’s curator, consulted with her childhood friend Nihal Koldas, now a renowned Turkish actor, director, scene designer and writer with nearly 30 years in the industry. Together, they selected films that provide a variety of perspectives on life in Turkey, from its renowned cities to ancestral rural villages. Festival audiences at the Museum can see Ms. Koldas onscreen in Mustang (2015) and Motherland (2015), the latter performance having earned her a Best Actress Award at the International Adana Film Festival.
Though growing in popularity internationally, Turkish films and film festivals remain rare in the United States, with notable exceptions in Boston and New York.
The Turkish Film Festival is a first for TAFSUS, who seek to promote cultural understanding throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey. “Quality films can be a great way to gain insight into a people, reflected through their hopes, dreams, and histories. We hope this film festival offers a better understanding of Turkey and its people,” said Ms. Iskarpatyoti.
• Friday, September 30, 7 p.m.
Istanbul Unveiled (1 hour, 1 minute)
Explore Istanbul in this 2013 travel documentary film produced in English. Scriptwriter Serif Yenen co-produced the film with Saadet Özen and co-directed it with Levent Ayasli.
• Saturday, October 1, 3 p.m.
The Swaying Waterlily (1 hour, 48 minutes)
Handan, 39, and Korhan, 40, are a well-off married couple. They live in a fancy Istanbul neighborhood, have many friends, and a 10-year old daughter. Life is good—or perhaps not. The family has forgotten how to communicate, how to be close, even to show the slightest interest in one another. Handan wants to escape this emptiness and dreams of personal fulfillment with a café of her own or as a writer. Seren Yüce directs this 2015 drama.
• Sunday, October 2, 3 p.m.
Mustang (1 hour, 37 minutes) Discussion follows.
In a Turkish village, five orphaned sisters live under strict rule while members of their family prepare their arranged marriages, in this award winning 2015 Turkish language film directed by Deniz Gamze Ergüven.
• Friday, October 7, 7 p.m.
Bliss (Mutluluk) (2 hours, 6 minutes)
A professor (Talat Bulut) crosses paths with a young man (Murat Han) and the teenager (Özgü Namal) he was supposed to dispatch in an honor killing, in this 2007 drama directed by Abdullah Oguz.
• Saturday, October 8, 3 p.m.
The Butterfly’s Dream (2 hours, 30 minutes)
Set in Turkey in the early 1940s, this drama revolves around two male friends, Rustu Onur and Muzaffer Tayyip Uslu. Members of the Garip poets movement, they make a living out of publishing their poems while World War II is in full swing across the world. Life changes as the social class system and religious barriers jeopardize their love lives, their friendship, and their profession, in this 2013 film directed by Yilmaz Erdogan.
• Sunday, October 9, 3 p.m. Discussion follows.
Motherland (1 hour, 38 minutes)
This 2015 drama by Turkish director Senem Tüzen focuses on a divorced, urban woman who goes to her ancestral village in Anatolia to write a book and is confronted by the unwelcomed arrival of her mother.
Third Annual Learning with MOOCs Conference: Being and Learning in the Digital Age
The Third Annual Learning with MOOCs Conference: Being and Learning in the Digital Age, sponsored by Penn’s Online Learning Initiative will be held on October 6 and 7. These two keynote addresses are free and open to the Penn community; RSVPs are requested to provrsvp@upenn.edu They will both take place in G06 Auditorium on the ground floor of Huntsman Hall.
Thursday, October 6, 9-10:15 a.m.
Keynote address by Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code and author of Women Who Don’t Wait in Line: Break the Mold, Lead the Way.
Friday, October 7, 9-10:15 a.m.
Keynote by Angela Duckworth, Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology and author of the current New York Times bestseller, Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Thinking About Retirement?
A program on Thinking About Retirement will be held tomorrow, September 28,from 9:30 a.m-3:30 p.m. at the Inn at Penn. Faculty and staff are invited to each concurrent Thinking about Retirement information session which focuses on one of these topics: Income Options, Social Security and Penn Benefits & Medicare. Staff and faculty can attend all three sessions, or just the ones covering their areas of interest. At Income Options, retirement professionals from TIAA will discuss retirement plan distributions. At Social Security, representatives from the Social Security Administration will share valuable details about this program. At Penn Benefits & Medicare, representatives from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, along with benefits specialists from Human Resources, will explain retirement health care options.
Registration is available online at www.hr.upenn.edu/thinkretirement
'Sprinklers Save Lives' Event
The Division of Public Safety will host the “Sprinklers Save Lives” event on Friday, September 30, from 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m., to conclude the PennReady Program’s September is Campus Fire Safety and Emergency Preparedness Month activities. “Sprinklers Save Lives” will be held on Hamilton Field, east of 40th Street between Locust Walk and Walnut Street. Personnel from several agencies responsible for safety and emergency management and response will display vehicles and equipment and will be available to speak about how their organizations operate.
A Side-by-Side Burn demonstration will take place at 12:15 p.m. Attendees will see how an investment in sprinklers saves lives and protects property and processes. This portion of the program is a collaborative effort among the DPS, the Philadelphia Fire Department and the PenJerDel Chapter of the National Fire Sprinkler Association.
Following a brief press conference with Eugene C. Janda, chief of fire and emergency services, and newly appointed Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Adam K. Thiel, a raffle will be held. Prizes include two iPad Airs, gift cards from the Penn Bookstore and more. Lunch will be offered from 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
At 1 p.m., the event will conclude with the annual UpennAlert Emergency Notification System and Penn Siren Outdoor System (PennSOS) test notifying the campus about the Shelter-in-Place Awareness Drill.
PHOS Host First-Time Home Buyers 101
Penn Home Ownership Services will present its “First Time Home Buyers 101” workshop on Monday, October 3 from 12:30-1:30 p.m. The workshop will be held at Learning and Education, 3624 Market Street, Suite 1A. Lending partner Santander Bank will be present to answer questions. Advance registration is required. Visit www.upenn.edu/homeownership for more information.
Penn Family Day: October 8
Visit the Penn Museum on Family Day, Saturday, October 8, where all PennCard holders—and their families—get in free. Guests can stop by at the open window to chat with a conservator at the In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies exhibition and conservation space at 12:30-1 p.m. and again from 3:30-4 p.m. Between 1-3 p.m., meet the Cartifacts Facilitator in the Egypt (Mummies) Gallery to learn about mummification in Ancient Egypt through touchable artifacts. A family-friendly docent-led tour of Native American Voices: The People—Here and Now begins at 1:30 p.m. Families can stop off at a coloring craft table from 1-4 p.m., or explore the Museum with a scavenger hunt. Visit Magic in the Ancient World, and discover the special exhibition The Golden Age of King Midas (PennCard holders and Penn Museum members, free to Midas exhibition; $5 for other guests).
On September 28, The Blues, consisting of several films that capture the essence of the blues and explores its profound influence on music and people the world over, kicks off in the Annenberg Center’s Harold Prince Theatre. The films trace the evolution of the blues. The African Roots, American Voices season-long focus on the blues includes four free film screenings from The Blues series, each with a post-show discussion.
Related: Ladies Sing the Blues
Jazz at Lincoln Center presents vocalists Catherine Russell, Brianna Thomas and Charenee Wade at 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 1, in the Annenberg Center’s Zellerbach Theatre. They channel the liberated spirits and pioneering vocalizations of four 1920s blues divas: Bessie Smith (the “Empress of the Blues”); Mamie Smith (the “Queen of the Blues”); Ma Rainey (the “Mother of the Blues”); and legendary stage and screen icon, Ethel Waters. Backed by a seven-piece band, the ladies demonstrate the ageless relevance of this important genre in American music, tackling love’s follies and stomping the blues away. For tickets, visitwww.annenbergcenter.org or call (215) 898-3900.
Related: The Blues