Remakesploitation Film Club, in collaboration with Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) London, King’s College London, Turkish Airlines and the Cinema Museum, will organize a new festival where Turkish remakes of iconic Hollywood movies will be screened with all-new English subtitles. Remakesploitation Fest 2022 will take place at the Cinema Museum in London on April 9-10.
Do you know that the Catholic theme of William Friedkin's famous movie “The Exorcist” was changed with an Islamic theme in the Turkish remake of the movie, “Şeytan” (“Satan”)? Or do you know that the Turkish adaptation of the “Star Trek” movie, “Turist Ömer Uzay Yolunda” (“Ömer the Tourist in Star Trek”), was filmed in the ancient city of Ephesus? Digitally restored versions of these unforgettable Turkish remakes, which have been circulated in low-resolution bootlegs for many years, have been prepared for the Remakesploitation Fest this year. While fantastic Turkish versions of many popular movies, from “Star Wars” to “Some Like it Hot,” will be screened at the event, the attendees will also have a chance to listen to Turkish psychedelic rock music with a specially designed playlist. In addition, all ticket-holders will be provided with free Turkish snacks.
Turkey became one of the biggest film producers during the 60s and 70s. Named after a street called “Yeşilçam” in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district that was formerly populated by film companies, the Turkish film industry produced thousands of movies until the early 80s. After this success, this prolific film industry then took up the brilliant idea of remaking Hollywood blockbusters.
While the film remakes were being produced across the world, this phenomenon particularly flourished in Turkey with remakes of everything from “Star Wars” and “E.T.” through to “Death Wish” and “Some Like it Hot.” Often dismissed as derivative, these films are now being recognized for the value they have for investigating processes of cultural globalization, the representation of Turkish identity on screen as well as their sheer creativity.
Turkish filmmakers compensated for the material and technical deficiencies or disadvantages that they experienced in the production process of the adaptations with their creativity. Without having the appropriate equipment or a sufficient budget, they readapted these films by "borrowing" the scenes, music and even the special effects used in the adapted films with a limited number of directors and screenwriters.
These remakes, however; had an unmistakable Turkish swing with plots and characters altered to satisfy the cultural milieu of the Turkish public. Invoking oxymoronic descriptions of unique familiarity and new nostalgia, these films have been long only accessible through bootlegged copies passed from hand to hand. While the Turkish remakes will be meeting cinephiles in the United Kingdom for the first time with Remakesploitation Fest, audiences within Turkey and around the world will be able to fully appreciate this fascinating period within Turkish film history.
The festival is an unmissable opportunity to indulge in nostalgia from a thoroughly Turkish lens. At the events, the posters of some of these Turkish remakes by legendary designer Graham Humphreys, who created famous films posters for Hollywood, including “The Nightmare on Elm Street, will be on sale. All proceeds from ticket sales go to the “Save the Cinema Museum” campaign to help preserve the wonderful venue for the future.
Special guests that will be in attendance include Cem Kaya, director of the “Remake, Remix, Rip-Off” documentary; Ed Glaser, author of “How the World Remade Hollywood” and Ahmet Gürata, author of “Imitation of Life: Cross-Cultural Reception and Remakes in Turkish Cinema.”
