Mapping Turkey: Film

For the complete mapping please click here.

Summary

The film industry in Turkey is quite a developed one, especially when one also takes into account the television series industry, with Turkish dramas sold to channels around the world, from the Middle East and the Balkans to Latin America. The market share of local productions in theatres is more than 50% and the local film produc-tion numbers have been growing consistently for the past 10 years or so, reaching 180 films produced in 2018 (boxofficeturkiye.com/turk-filmleri/). Yet, the box office success is reserved for only a handful of popular films every year and distribution and exhibition are monopolised. Many local art-house films that face distribution and exhibition problems in Turkey are featured at festivals around the world, winning va-rious awards. Especially after the 2000s, the cinematic climate developed with a new cinema law – although with vast shortcomings – passing in 2004 and the distribution of public funds from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in 2005. However, after 2014, the oppressive and polarised political environment began to be strongly felt by the industry, revealing itself especially in the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s funding decisions and various censorship cases. With a rise in the number of Film and TV Departments of private universities during these years, the number of young scholars and film professionals is growing as well, resulting in a rise of short film production. Despite its size, the industry is not very well structured, and it is always necessary to find a local contact to obtain information or conduct business in Turkey.

For the complete mapping please click here.