Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan: 'Maybe I will never make another film'

Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the guest of honor at the 20th Akbank Short Film Festival, spoke about his work, saying, "I don't know what I will do right now. I leave it to my feelings; I read books, I travel, and then something gradually takes hold of me on its own. I wait for that to make a film. Maybe I will never make another film."

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Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan: 'Maybe I will never make another film'

Meeting with young people and filmmakers at a program held at Akbank Sanat, Nuri Bilge Ceylan made statements about his cinematic life following the screening of his first film, "Koza" (Cocoon).

Stating that there were no video cameras or internet in the years he stepped into cinema, Ceylan said, "My childhood was spent in Yenice, Çanakkale. There was a cinema in that tiny town, and the film would change every day. We learned how we should live and what we wanted to be from that cinema. Because the films changed, our dreams changed every day. Mehmet Eryılmaz has been of great help to me. If it weren't for him, I might not have even started cinema,".

'MISTAKES TEACH THE TRUTH'

Mentioning that he wanted to cast him in the lead role of a short film directed by Eryılmaz, Ceylan said, "I accepted with the thought that I could learn how to make cinema on the condition that I would be involved in all stages. We shot the film, and I went into the editing room. Everything felt like a miracle. Then I bought a camera. I would note down the ideas that came to my mind and shoot them. The best way to learn is definitely to make mistakes. Because mistakes teach a person the truth."

Pointing out that cinema represents a search, the master director continued:

"A person reaches a point and nothing happens; you are constantly searching, trying to understand. A person ages physically, but their soul is a child. Consciousness focuses more on areas it does not know. For example, I cannot be a teacher. Because what I know does not interest me. The secrets of my own soul, the world, or life that I do not know occupy my mind, and I pursue them.

Therefore, making a film can never be an act like a manifesto or conveying what I know to other people. I am also looking for something while making a film. Only in that way can I be motivated. For me, making a film is a kind of research, therapy, and an attempt to understand."

'I HAVE HAD NO PEACE SINCE THAT DAY'

Pointing out the influence of Russian literature on his films, Nuri Bilge Ceylan said, "To put it like Cemal Süreya, 'I read Crime and Punishment, and I have had no peace since that day.' Actually, it's not because I like this novel so much, but it felt like it was describing me. 'Winter Sleep' is a film written based on and relying on two stories by Dostoevsky. I love Russian literature because it helps me know myself and understand what is called a human being."

Stating that he believes people with similar souls are siblings, Ceylan said, "For example, we see things from Eric Rohmer in Tarkovsky's films. This is very normal and I like it. Not just films, but books and everything in life affect a person. We are actually the sum of all these. Abbas Kiarostami also opened many doors for me. It excited me a lot to see the example in his films that one does not necessarily need to find grand stories."

'I EXPERIENCED FEARS'

Stating that he has criticisms regarding his first films, Ceylan noted the following:

"When 'The Small Town' (Kasaba) was screened in Berlin, it felt very bad; I thought the dialogues didn't work. The fact that the dialogues didn't work created a strange fear in me against dialogues. I still cannot watch 'The Small Town'. I started looking for radical solutions to handle this issue, and I never made a film with dubbing again. The fear of dialogue caused such a trauma in me that until my last film, I experienced fears like 'Can I make this dialogue work here?'"

'IT COULD HAVE DOMINATED MY CONSTITUTION'

Highlighting the concept of time in cinema, Nuri Bilge Ceylan said, "Time is the most tragic thing in the world for me. When the concept of time dominates my self, everything loses its meaning for me. I am not someone who finds everything very meaningful anyway. That's why perhaps I have to create meaning a little bit. The feeling that everything is empty can very easily take me under its influence. Therefore, literature, art, cinema, and making films—all of these have been very good for this side of me. Because otherwise, my melancholic nature could have dominated my constitution," he said.

'I AM NOT SOMEONE WHO MAKES PROJECT-BASED FILMS'

Ceylan also explained his future work:

"I don't know what I will do right now. I have never been one of those directors who has a bunch of projects in their drawer. Because making a film changes a person. For example, if I had two projects, by the time I shot the first one, I would reach a position where I wouldn't want to shoot the second one. Therefore, I leave it to my feelings; I wait, I read books, I travel, and then something gradually takes hold of me on its own. I wait for that to make a film. Maybe I will never make another film, I don't know. I am not someone who makes project-based films. These days I am dealing with photography; I like it more."

News Source: AA