GÜLSEN TUNCER’S GLEAM
There are some actors, no matter how much you equip them with the richness of different characters, you cannot change their face, posture, look, attitude, and all the unexplainable gleam on their face despite variabilities. Because this undepictable gleam is unique to those specific actors. It is hers, cannot be altered, imitated, and re-lived by someone else… Gülsen Tuncer is such an actress. Despite the 55 years she spent in theater and cinema disciplines, Gülsen Tuncer is still a beaming light.
Her gleam was lit by Melih Cevdet Anday, Ahmet Kutsi Tecer, Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, Samih Nafiz Tansu, and Yıldız Kenter. Later that gleam passed onto LCC. She learned Brecht from Ayla Algan. He founded a troupe called Group 6 with her friends when she was still a student. When the time came, she joined Gülriz Sururi and Engin Cezzar Theater and became a professional actor with Haltun Taner’s “Zilli Zarife. The year was 1965… She fit many theaters and plays such as Kenter, Ulvi Uraz, İstanbul Union Theater, Çevre, Dostlar, Levent Kırca, Ali Poyrazoğlu, Nisa Serezli- Tolga Aşkıner, Ankara Contemporary Stage, Erkan Yücel Theater, Hadi Çaman Yeditepe Actors, Sadri Alışık, Theater Olive Branch, Theater Studio, and Nazım Actors into 55 years that was full of successful performances…
When Gülsen Tuncer made his first appearance in front of the camera in 1968 for the short film Giraffe Street directed by Özcan Arca, she was unaware of how the light of her acting would be reflected on the screen. The role in this short film heralded a new discipline of acting. Theaters she worked for did not pay salary during the summer holidays. Vedat Türkali, father of Deniz Türkali, a friend from the conservatory, came to the rescue. At that time, he was writing a screenplay for Duru Film and could not have found a better assistant director than Gülsen Tuncer. Gülsen Tuncer’s interest in cinema was not new. She read cinema magazines and never missed Film Club, which she was a member. She was not arrogant in an emotional sense but she instinctively was distant toward Turkish cinema until she joined the pre-production stage of Lütfi Ömer Akad’s film “Yaralı Kurt” in 1971.
She assisted directors such as Süreyya Duru, Ertem Göreç, and Zeki Ökten in several films until 1970. After marrying director Engin Ayça, all her thoughts about Turkish cinema changed. She occasionally acted in small roles in some films, but she didn’t forget that her main job was assisting directors. However, when Turkish cinema needed new character actors in time and when she started to have bigger roles, acting in camera became inevitable for Gülsen Tuncer. Her light now shone on the screen. Under that gleam of light there was purity, honesty, sometimes motherhood, sometimes resistance, and trust that did not give up against helplessness and poverty. Gülsen Tuncer acted in her films just as she lived. Acting in socially conscious films such as “Derya Gülü”, “At”, “Faize Hücum”, “Ölmez Ağacı”, “Asılacak Kadın”, and “Fatmagül’ün Suçu Ne?” in her early years in cinema was not a coincidence. In fact, having her debut by acting socially conscious movies was because of her world view coincided with the current genre of her time and this coincidence was noticed by some directors. Rather than being the star of popular films, she preferred to be the unforgettable face of films with an argument such as “Afife Jale”, “Gramofon Avrat”, “İpekçe”, “A Ay”, “Düğün”, “Hasan Boğuldu”, and “Soğuktu ve Yağmur Çiseliyordu.” The awards she received confirmed that choice. Perhaps this is why the gleam of her face reflected without losing its brightness. Gülsen Tuncer knitted her acting cocoon with great patience for years.
Sometimes she put importance into the quality and entered a period of silence, sometimes had to act in some films to avoid being forgotten. He became the protagonist of many novels written by masters such as “Üç İstanbul”, “Bugünün Saraylısı”, “Çalıkuşu”, “Ateşten Günler”, and “Can Şenliği”. In time, she became one of the rare actors who translated her gleam into coaching, which she proudly carried for years. Today, many of the names who continue her courses show their skills in different disciplines of acting. Let your light to guide us forever Gülsen Tuncer…
Ali Can Sekmeç
25 November 2019 Beyoğlu
THE MAN WHO EDITED TURKISH CINEMA (YEŞİLÇAM)
His job was to organize the narrative, to select and place the images in the most appropriate way, to ensure the transition between plans, and to capture the rhythm. In other words, Mevlut Koçak was the last person who put the last touches on the entire image that narrated by the scriptwriter and captured by the director…
He started his career as a negative editing assistant at Ören Film Studios in 1970 when he was just 15-year old. When he cut his education short, his cousin and one of the most earnest editors of Turkish cinema, Mehmet Özdemir, took him along. The first films he edited were melodramas such as “Yarım Kalan Saadet” and “Yumurcak Köprüaltı Çocuğu.” Mevlut Koçak was a self-taught man who excelled in editing in the context of master-apprentice relationship in the Turkish cinema tradition. He continued to work under the umbrella of Saner Film Studios until 1973.
Although the studio was taken over by sound engineer Necip Sarıca later on and reorganized under the name of Yeni Studio, Mevlut Koçak’s position did not change. He started to work with the other founder of the studio, İsmail Kalkan. By keeping pace with the fast production in Turkish cinema, the duo guided the films that contained Turkish cinema’s known genres, rush, and stereotypes. During this period, Mevlüt Koçak edited and synchronized films such as “Açlık”, “El Kapısı”, “Hasret”, “Oh Olsun”, “Topal”, “Mavi Boncuk”, “Salako”, “Yüreğimde Yare Var”, “Bizim Aile”, “Delisin”, “Tosun Paşa”, “Batan Güneş”, “Kanal”, “Sultan”, “Korkusuz Korkak”, “İnsan Sevince”, and “Yuvasız Kuşlar.” Mevlut Koçak had his signature on a handful of regular films shot in Turkish cinema, during mid 1970s when the sector was stuck in the bogs of erotic films. In 1979, Mevlut Koçak transferred to Yeni Lale Film Studio that was founded again by Necip Sarıca. He continued to work as the permanent editor of the studio until 1988.
The increase of the films shot only for video and not finding movie theaters to screen the films slowed down the production of quality films. During this period, Mevlut Koçak preferred to work as freelance editor. In 1980s the only advantage Mevlut Koçak had over other editors was that he worked with sophisticated directors like Atıf Yılmaz, Şerif Gören, and Ömer Kavur, who understood theory of editing. He developed his editing skills because of what he learned from them. While he worked in all kinds of films without the luxury to choose in his first ten years in the sector, he worked on the films he chose as the most sought editor during 1980s. He worked as editing director in many films such as “Boynu Bükük”, “Devlet Kuşu”, “Gerzek Şaban”, “Kanlı Nigar”, “Kırık Bir Aşk Hikayesi”, “Nasıl İsyan Etmem”, “Aile Kadını”, “Namuslu”, “Amansız Yol”, “Kurbağalar”, “Körebe”, “Ah Belinda”, “Asiye Nasıl Kurtulur”, “Asılacak Kadın”, “Bir Avuç Gökyüzü”, “Gece Yolculuğu”, “Kadının Adı Yok”, “Anayurt Oteli”, “Eskici ve Oğulları”, “Düş Gezginleri”, “Seni Seviyorum Rosa”, “Şahmaran”, “Yumuşak Ten”, “Masumiyet”, “Melekler Evi”, “Salkım Hanımın Taneleri”, “Karşılaşma”, “Ateşin Düştüğü Yer”, and “Kervan 1915. He received numerous awards for his editing.
With 11 awards he received, he became the only editor with highest number of awards. Mevlut Koçak, who edited hundreds of films during his 50 years in the profession, is one of the rare studio workers, who is coming from Turkish cinema tradition. We are not able to know if he was able to imagine what he would experience when he picked the editing scissors but Turkish cinema owes him a lot, this is certain… Our applaud goes to the man who edited Turkish cinema… Thank you so much Mevlut Koçak…
Ali Can Sekmeç
25 November 2019 Beyoğlu