How I Met My Kindred Spirit

I have never felt the urge to meet my favorite filmmakers in person. Because I already know them through their films. I always aim to step into their worlds with my own films that reveal my existence and friendship through my work. Like planting seeds, we release our films into the universe, where they grow and build a cinematic habitat together. This is how I expect my cinematic evolution to continue.

However, when Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a significant figure in Turkish and World Cinema, showed up at the screening of my film, A Hero of Our Time (2023) at the Sinematek/Sinema Evi (which is a cinematheque in Istanbul), I encountered an experience beyond my usual expectations.

Reconnecting with an Old Friend

While Mr. Ceylan serves as a guiding light for many filmmakers worldwide, including myself, I never have grand expectations regarding his reception of my films. However, during the Q&A session after the screening, he surprised me with his incredibly positive feedback as he expressed his admiration for the film. To my delight, he suggested sitting down for a chat after the Q&A, which turned out to be a great experience.

Our conversation about our stylistic preferences just flowed smoothly. You know, meeting him felt like reconnecting with an old friend. And, indeed, I openly told him that I did not need to meet him in person as I already felt like I knew him. He agreed with the idea but also noted that sometimes filmmakers’ personalities may not match the brilliance of their films. And then, he repeated his usual saying: We connect with our kindred spirits through our films.

You can watch the English-subtitled Q&A session here. (For Turkish speakers, I’d like to extend my sincere apologies in advance to those who might take issue with the gendered language I used. Surely, this is the age of people who are offended by everything, but, you know, it is difficult to align yourself with the current trends.)

Besides that, here is what I came across just recently as a contrast: As if being broadly ignored by film festivals wasn’t enough, my film has been labeled as one of 2023’s Worst Turkish Films by the film critic and festival programmer, Kerem Akca. Just a note for future film historians.