Film Festivals and Social Movements Intertwined: the Spatial Activism of the Istanbul Film Festival Audience During the Gezi Protests
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Film Festivals and Social Movements Intertwined: The Spatial Activism of the Istanbul Film Festival Audience during the Gezi Protests Edge Hill University Özge Özdüzen Ateşman This thesis is submitted to the Department of Media, Edge Hill University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May, 2016 Abstract This thesis focuses on the relationship between film festivals and political activism by taking the International Istanbul Film Festival (IIFF) audience as a case study during the Gezi uprising. It is a study of a community’s political action hand in hand with their cosmopolitan imagination and nostalgic feelings in their engagement with the IIFF, when Turkey increasingly lurched towards authoritarianism in the 2010s. Through the increasing number of festival films and events that went against the dominant ideology in Turkey, this audience community embraced an activist cosmopolitanism which set the ground for political action. It scrutinises their formation of nostalgic feelings for the historical spaces in Beyoğlu, developed jointly by their anti-neoliberal discourses while also displaying their political action against the top-down urban regeneration programmes. In order to account for their political activism, revolving initially around festival spaces and then occupied parks, I conducted an ethnographic research at the festival and the Gezi uprising from 2013 to 2014. Employing participant observation, life histories and in-depth interviews, this research examines the intricacies of human relations with spaces, social movements and cultural events at an increasingly authoritarian regime. The rise of authoritarianism also implied a transformation in my methodology. This thesis offers a timely contribution to the relationship between neo- liberalism and Islamic fundamentalism while pointing to people’s political use of cultural spaces. It also offers new insights on the phenomenon of film festivals by relating them to urban cultures and social movements in their hosting cities. It expands our knowledge on non-Western audiences’ engagement with a film festival, whilst providing an interpretation of social movement development attached to cultural spaces such as film festivals. More broadly, it gives new insights on the film and protest culture of a secular group within a predominantly Muslim culture in showing the ways in which they oppose Islamic fundamentalism and neoliberalism. It situates the Emek movement and the Gezi uprising, not only in their close affinity with Istanbul’s cityscape and Turkey’s political situation but also in their organic relationship with global social movements particularly the Occupy movements and the Arab Spring. Thus, this thesis makes a unique interdisciplinary contribution to I the existing literature on film festivals as well as urban research and social movements. Key words: Film festivals, social movements, audience research, the Gezi Park, urban studies, neoliberalism, cosmopolitanism, nostalgia II Acknowledgements I wish to express my greatest gratitude to my supervisor Dr Ruxandra Trandafoiu for not only giving me rigorous and insightful advice but also for her sense of humor and friendship, which are much needed during the PhD process. Her ability to put my thesis into context within a wider framework has been of immeasurable help in keeping me on track with each step of my thesis, from my proposal through my fieldwork and writing up process. Her supervision helped me develop the abilities I needed for my PhD study while also enabling me to explore different research interests beyond my dissertation. My unreserved gratitude goes to Dr Elke Weissmann, who was my co-supervisor, not only due to her generosity of time and guidance but also because of her calm presence and attention to detail. Her invaluable feedback inspired me to develop my PhD research project into its present form. I am also forever grateful to have Prof Asuman Suner as my third supervisor, who offered invaluable scholarly advice, wholehearted support and her generous friendship throughout this project. Her practical wisdom and expert opinion enabled me in accomplishing this venture. I consider myself fortunate to have Dr David Archibald and Prof Owen Evans as my examiners, and I truly appreciate their encouraging support. Their inspiring remarks and feedback provided me with the guidance that helped me improve my work. Meanwhile, I am also grateful to Prof Nezih Erdoğan and Dr Özge Özyılmaz Yıldızcan for being enlightening mentors and great friends over the years; they had an enormous impact on my academic endeavors. This dissertation would not have been completed without the help from all my participants. I am indebted to their input and influence as well as their willingness to spend their time and share their stories with me. I am also truly thankful to the friends who helped me find participants and offered me other means of support during my fieldwork. I wish to take the opportunity to thank my dear friends Tunca Çaylant, Berna Özdemir, Mahmut Koyaş, Pınar Sungur Wiseman, Janet Barış, Seray Genç and Senem Didar Kaynar not only for their III help for my fieldwork but also for being great friends. I have also always been fortunate to have Yaprak Melike Uyar, Zeynep Yaşar, Başak Günsever and Çiğdem Eldeleklioğlu by my side; they have been a constant source of support and fun as my honorary sisters. I also feel immense pleasure to have friends like Carly Paton and Claire Kinsella, special thanks go to them not only because we shared film escapes and fun times but also because of their invaluable help and support in my writing process. They were literally my family in Liverpool. I am also much indebted to Sait Bayrakdar, Ayça Çiftçi, Rob Cooke and Volkan Aran for being my other ‘families’ in London and Norwich. I am grateful for the joys, happiness and support they gave me. I am also thankful to my housemates Beth Mead, Maja Lorkowska and Sarah Goulden for many reasons but primarily because of making the process of writing up much more colorful and enjoyable. I am grateful to my proofreader Dr Beverley Chaplin, who helped me in improving my writing. My tremendous gratefulness goes to my two other lovely editors Howie Lemonds and my sister Cansu Özdüzen. I am thankful for their insightful comments and competent editing skills. My deepest gratitude goes to my parents Şadan and Nejdet and my sister Cansu not only for providing me with their unconditional love and endless support over the years but also sharing with me their passion for knowledge, openness and inspiring lifestyles. Without them, this dissertation would have been literally impossible. Above all, I am forever thankful to my husband Serkan Ateşman and our dog Curry. I am grateful that I was blessed with Curry’s love, as she was my loveliest companion in the longest days and nights of writing. I would not have been able to gather the strength to start or complete my research if I was not surrounded by Serkan’s inner peace as well as his loving and adventurous character. We travelled across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, discussed political opinions, shared our joys and sorrows. Through his unlimited encouragement, patience and unwavering belief in me, I have been able to complete this long dissertation journey. IV Contents The List of Abbreviations……………………….......…………………………….1 Chapter 1: Introduction: Overview and Purpose………………………....…..2 1.1.Introduction…………………………..………..……………………...……….....3 Chapter 2: The Contemporary Political Context in Turkey: Between Islamist Neo-Liberalism and New Social Movements………………...........25 2.1.Introduction.……………………………………………………………………..26 2.2.Globalisation and Islamist Neo-liberalism in Turkey………………………..27 2.3.Istanbul’s Globalisation through Islamist Neo-Liberalism………………….35 2.4.Globalisation from Below: New Social Movements.………………………..42 2.5.Conclusion to the Chapter…………………………………………………….55 Chapter 3: Audience and Social Movements’ Ethnography in Istanbul...57 3.1.Introduction……………………………………………………………………...58 3.2.Ethnographic Methods in Audience and Social Movements Research…..59 3.2.The Risks and Shortcomings of Ethnographic Research.……..…………..69 3.4.The Phases of Fieldwork……………………………………………………...73 3.4.1.Groundwork..…………………………………………………………73 3.4.2.Focusing and Immersion……………………………………………74 3.4.3.The Researcher and Her Informants………………………………79 3.4.4.Writing…………………………………………………………………82 3.5.Conclusion to the Chapter…..….……………………………………………..84 Chapter 4: The IIFF Culture in the Context of Cinema in Turkey and Film Festival Research……...………………………………..………………………...86 4.1.Introduction……………………………………………………………………...87 4.2.An Overview of the History of Cinema in Turkey………………..…..……...88 4.3.An Overview of the National and International Context of the IIFF……..100 4.4.Eurocentrism in Film Festival Research and Circuits……...……………..107 V 4.5.Conclusions to the Chapter………...………………………………………..113 Chapter 5: Cosmopolitanism in the Festival’s Social Space and Public Sphere……………………………………………………………………………..115 5.1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………….116 5.2.The Social Implications of Film Festival Attendance………..…………….117 5.3.The IIFF as a Cultural Counter-public Sphere..…………………………...123 5.4.The Activist Cosmopolitan Identity of the IIFF Audiences…………..…....141 5.5.Conclusions to the Chapter……………...…………………………………..155 Chapter 6: The Anti-Neoliberal Discourses and Feelings of Nostalgia for Spaces…………………………..…………………………………………………157 6.1.Introduction…………………………………………………………………….158 6.2.The Nostalgia