Cinema in Turkey: A New Critical History

Boasting nearly 7,000 titles, Turkey has produced more films than any other country in the Middle East or the Balkans. While the films enjoy great popularity at home, they haven't received the respect they deserve beyond their borders. Frequently, Turkey's cinema has been painted as imitative, simplistic or underdeveloped, casting it in shadow to the West. But things are finally changing. Turkish filmmakers like Nuri Bilge Ceylan are turning up in cinematheques worldwide. Critics are taking notice. And now general readers will have the overview they need to contextualize this remarkable body of work.

Examining both popular genres and art films, Cinema in Turkey deals with the country's entire cinematic tradition, including not only its high point with Yesilcam-Turkey's popular film industry of the 1950s to the 1980s-but also its early years and current revival. In addition to surveying the cinematic landscape and recounting its history, Cinema in Turkey analyzes the arts conventions from which the first films emerged, region-specific permutations, and the cultural ramifications of Turkey's distinct forms of modernization and nation-building.