Turkish Cinema

"Films often act as prisms that refract the issues facing a nation, and Turkish cinema in particular distills and reflects the cultural and social challenges of modern-day Turkey. In this, the first comprehensive study of the cinema of Turkey to be published in English, acclaimed film scholar Gönül Dönmez-Colin examines the way that national cinema reveals the Turkish quest for a modern identity. Marked by continually shifting ethnic demographics, politics and geographic borders, Turkish society strives to reconcile modern attitudes with traditional morals and centuries-old customs. Dönmez-Colin examines how contemporary Turkish filmmakers, working in Turkey and abroad, address these conflicting values in their cinematic works. Turkish Cinema looks at how these films confront taboo subjects such as homosexuality, incest and honour killings, issues that have only recently become viable subjects of discussion for the new generation of Turkish citizens. Many Turkish films revolve around ideas of migration and exile and give voice to previously subsumed 'denied identities', such as those of the Kurds. An extensively researched and thought-provoking book, Turkish Cinema will be invaluable for scholars of Middle East studies and cinephiles alike."--Page 4 of cover.