Presentation of Nuri Bilge Ceylan and his Cinema in the Turkish Media

Abstract

Nuri Bilge Ceylan is the most famous Turkish film director with numerous international prizes. However, Ceylan’s presentation by the Turkish media is far from emphasizing his success, talent, creativity, style, technique, and cinematography. He often falls victim to undeserved and superficial criticism of “would be” critics who openly confess they did not watch Ceylan’s movies. He is sometimes portrayed as a political figure and critic of the present day Turkish politics and system. This article focuses on how two mainstream Turkish newspapers, columnists and microbloggers portrayed and reacted to Ceylan and his cinema after his film Winter Sleep won the top prize (the Golden Palm) at Cannes Film Festival in 2014 and the reasons behind this portrayal.

Keywords

• Turkish Cinema
• Turkish media
• Nuri Bilge Ceylan
• Ceylan’s movies
• “Winter Sleep”, “Distant”, “Three Monkeys”, “Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”, “Cocoon”, “Clouds of May”, “The Town