12th BOSTON TURKISH FESTIVALSM

Colors of Anatolia
 
OCTOBER 29 - DECEMBER 15, 2007
  
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DOCUMENTARY AND SHORT FILM COMPETITION

 

Saturday - November 24, 2007    at 7 p.m.

Main Auditorium
Harvard Film Archive
Carpenter Center for the Arts, Cambridge
Directions

 

 


In Competition
I NAMED HER ANGEL

Ismini Melek Koydum

Directed by Nefin Dinc


Documentary / Turkey / 2006 / 30 min.

In Turkish with English subtitles



 This documentary film tells the story of a 12 years-old Turkish girl, Elif, learning the basics of her religion, Mevlevism. Mevlevis are also known as Whirling Dervishes in the Western World and they are a part of a heterodox tradition of Islam.

Elif, who is also a middle school student, attends to the meetings at the religious den in Istanbul, listens to the spiritual leader about the matters of life, death, being human, Mevlana, Allah,..., reads the books about her religion and also learns how to pray by whirling. 

This film follows Elif through the course of a year, witnessing her learning how to do the Sema (whirling), learning how to wear the tennure (white robe that Mevlevis wear during the religious ceremony), learning about the position of women in this religion, performing at the centuries old Galata Mevlevi Temple for the first time and learning the teachings of Mevlana, the founder of Mevlevism. Mevlana is also known as Rumi and his poems are vastly popular in the Western World.

The film also includes interviews with Didem Edman, who is the first female Sema performer; Ahmet Milli, who decided to join the Whirling Dervishes after having to deal with his drug usage problem for years; Mete Edman, who is the chorus director and composer of some contemporary Mevlevi music; Lena Ziv, a member from Israel who comes to Istanbul just to learn how to do the whirling and the teachings of Mevlana on tolerance and love.

The film attempts to show a different view of Islam through the eyes of a twelve years-old Turkish girl and other members of the Whirling Dervishes..

 


Director NEFIN DINC:

Nefin Dinc, Assistant Professor at the State University of New York Fredonia, has an M.F.A. in documentary film production from the University of North Texas. She got her bachelor’s degree from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science. After working in the TV industry in Ankara she decided to strengthen her theoretical background in media and she got her Master’s degree on Media and Culture in Strathclyde University, Glasgow. After returning back to Turkey she started working in Istanbul as a 1st assistant director for feature films, documentaries and TV commercials.

In 2002 she started to study at University of North Texas to get her Master of Fine Arts degree on documentary filmmaking and she graduated from UNT in 2005.

She directed her first documentary "The Republic Train" for Turkish Radio and Television in 2000 and got the Best Documentary Film of the Year Award by Journalists Association of Turkey.  Among the films she has directed, produced, and edited is the recent documentary about Greek refugees and their music entitled, “Rebetiko: The Song of Two Cities.” The film was screened at many national and international film festivals, including the Flying Broom Women's Film Festival in Ankara, Dallas Video Festival, First Middle Eastern Diaspora Conference in New York, University of Texas in Austin, Rebetiko Hydra Gathering in Greece and School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Also, her M.F.A thesis film on Whirling Dervishes, "I Named Her Angel" was screened on Dallas’ PBS channel KERA in January 2006, on a Turkish Documentary Film Channel Iz TV and the Turkish news channel 24, as well as at the film festivals including Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, 1001 Istanbul International Documentary Film Festival, Dallas Video Festival, MESA FilmFest Boston, Iran International Documentary Film Festival, Global Visions Film Festival, Canada and Mediterranean Documentary Film Festival, Greece. "I Named Her Angel" won the Special Recognition Award-World Cinema at the Washington DC Independent Film Festival and the Student Award at This Line Film Festival, Texas.

Filmography:

Republic Train (2000)
Rebetiko: The Song of Two Cities (2005)
I Named Her Angel (2005)