sinematek.tv
Turkey
Turkish
17 minutes 19 seconds
16mm
Colour
Optical
“O günlerde tam bir kültürel çöl olan İzmir’de sinema ile ilgili birşeyler yapabilmek (etkinlik, fim, yayın) çabası içindeyken, İstanbul öncesi kurucular arasında bulunduğum ve sinematek bölümünü yönettiğim İzmir Sinema ve Kültür Derneği’nin düzenlediği “Bağımsız Filmler’ temalı festivale filmleriyle davet ettiğim, tanıştığım Muammer Özer’le dostluğum ilerledi… Yıllar sonra İzmir’i ziyaret ettiği bir günde öğrencilerimden İbrahim Öğretmen ile (daha sonra Paris’e yerleşti, Gökşin Sipahioğlu ile uzun süre çalıştı) fotoğraf çalışmaları sırasında gözlediğim bir kenar semtteki artık camları değerlendiren işliklerden-işçilerden söz ettim. O günlerde Refik Durbaş’ın şiirinden, Livaneli’nin bir şarkısı da kulaklarımızdaydı.” Oğuz Makal, sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/ciraklar-1980-2/ (9 November 2019).
“When I was trying to make something (a film, a publication, an event)—Izmir was like a ‘cultural desert,’ I started getting off with Muammer Özer whom I invited to the “Independent Film Festival” that İzmir Sinema ve Kültür Derneği [Izmir Cinema and Cultural Association which I established in Istanbul organized... After years, when one of my students—İbrahim Özen who moved to Paris and worked with Gökhan Sipahioğlu—came to Izmir, I talked to him about child workers trying to pick up waste glass in trash. During the course of these days, Refik Durbaş’s poem [Çırak Aranıyor/An Apprentice Wanted] and one song of Liveneli were ringing in our ears.” Oğuz Makal, sinematek.tv: http://sinematek.tv/ciraklar-1980-2/ (9 November 2019).
http://www.sinematurk.com/kisi/1796-muammer-ozer/
The film uses the voice-over narrations of many child workers as their testimonies. In addition, many songs of Zülfü Livaneli, a Turkish musician, accompanies the testimonies. The last sequence concludes that the film was made with the support of “İzmir GSF Sinema Bölümü” [İzmir GSF Department of Cinema]—which is Dokuz Eylul University’s Department of Film Design in the Faculty of Fine Arts today.
The documentary thematically depicts the daily lives and struggles of “child workers” or, what they are called, “apprentices” in Izmir (and in Turkey in general) in the1980s, with a particular emphasis on issues like social security and work safety. Problematizing the financial hardships as one barrier for primary education, shootings portray a number of traditional craftsmanship practices, including glassblowing, as well as the workers’ working conditions in these local industries. The theme of workers’ struggle also connects to a larger socialist theme with child worker’s slogan: “Faşizme geçit yok!” [Fascism shall not pass]!
Amateur Cinema