By Hasan Kanbolat - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, TurkeyTuesday, August 7, 2007
Nefin Dinç is a young woman devoted to the art of documentary film-making. A documentary she watched during her first year at the School of Political Science at Ankara University had such an immense influence over her that she decided to become a documentary film director.
Her years of apprenticeship on the backstage of the “32nd Day” TV news program were followed by a professional career involving commercials and movies shot in İstanbul, with a master’s degree and a Ph.D. acquired in the United Kingdom and the United States on shooting documentaries.
Every documentary she makes carries traces of Turkish culture and history, often highlighting the modern and humanitarian face of her home country.
The third and latest documentary from Dinç is "Ismini Melek Koydum” (I named her Angel), where she tells the story of a little girl, 12-years-old Elif, who desires to be initiated into the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes, and focuses on how she learns about the basics and rules of the Sufi order of “Mevleviyya.”
It is a 30-minute documentary which hints at the strong sense of humanism in Anatolian history and culture.
The camera follows Elif for a year, showing the viewer how the whirling ceremony is performed and what it means, the teachings of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, the founder of the order, the meaning of the ceremonies held every December to commemorate him, what the special outfit of a whirling dervish symbolize and how and why foreigners follow and endeavor to internalize his teachings.
The documentary, screened at many foreign festivals, was also screened in Turkey at the “İstanbul 1001 International Documentary Films.”
Nefin Dinç has won deserved fame in the United States with “I named her Angel,” as well as receiving the Special Recognition Award in the world cinema category at the Washington, D.C., Independent Film Festival. Dinç’s acclaimed documentary was screened by national US TV channels many times and attracted the media’s attention.
The documentary now takes on a higher significance given that it has coincided with the 800th anniversary of the birth of the internationally renowned Sufi scholar and poet Mevlana Rumi, with UNESCO also declaring 2007 the “Year of Rumi” to honor the occasion.
Director Dinç is currently working on a new documentary film on Turkey and Greece. It is focused on how Turks and Greeks have developed the present impressions they have of one another. It will be finished in 2008.
Nefin Dinç is a young woman devoted to the art of documentary film-making. A documentary she watched during her first year at the School of Political Science at Ankara University had such an immense influence over her that she decided to become a documentary film director.
Her years of apprenticeship on the backstage of the “32nd Day” TV news program were followed by a professional career involving commercials and movies shot in İstanbul, with a master’s degree and a Ph.D. acquired in the United Kingdom and the United States on shooting documentaries.
Every documentary she makes carries traces of Turkish culture and history, often highlighting the modern and humanitarian face of her home country.
The third and latest documentary from Dinç is "Ismini Melek Koydum” (I named her Angel), where she tells the story of a little girl, 12-years-old Elif, who desires to be initiated into the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes, and focuses on how she learns about the basics and rules of the Sufi order of “Mevleviyya.”
It is a 30-minute documentary which hints at the strong sense of humanism in Anatolian history and culture.
The camera follows Elif for a year, showing the viewer how the whirling ceremony is performed and what it means, the teachings of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, the founder of the order, the meaning of the ceremonies held every December to commemorate him, what the special outfit of a whirling dervish symbolize and how and why foreigners follow and endeavor to internalize his teachings.
The documentary, screened at many foreign festivals, was also screened in Turkey at the “İstanbul 1001 International Documentary Films.”
Nefin Dinç has won deserved fame in the United States with “I named her Angel,” as well as receiving the Special Recognition Award in the world cinema category at the Washington, D.C., Independent Film Festival. Dinç’s acclaimed documentary was screened by national US TV channels many times and attracted the media’s attention.
The documentary now takes on a higher significance given that it has coincided with the 800th anniversary of the birth of the internationally renowned Sufi scholar and poet Mevlana Rumi, with UNESCO also declaring 2007 the “Year of Rumi” to honor the occasion.
Director Dinç is currently working on a new documentary film on Turkey and Greece. It is focused on how Turks and Greeks have developed the present impressions they have of one another. It will be finished in 2008.
[picture from Tiburon International Film Festival http://tinyurl.com/ysakxb]
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1 comment:
Dear All,
>
> I wanted to let you know that my film “I Named Her Angel” will be shown at an online film festival on the 22nd of October and perhaps a couple of days more. For that day I believe people all around the world can see the film and ask me questions online.
>
> The film festival is called “Imagining Ourselves” and it focuses on women’s issues all around the world.
> If you want to see how it works please logon to to www.imaginingourselves.imow.org on the 22nd of October starting from 9.30 am, US time.
>
> If you wanted to ask me questions online I’d be happy to answer them as well.
>
> Nefin Dinc.
> ________
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