In 2012, award-winning photographer Guy Martin moved to Istanbul. At the time, Turkey was regarded as a nation of wealth and power, with a stable democracy with secular leadership. However, this began to change with the rise of Islamic State, Presidential elections, the Kurds becoming a credible political force, the refugee crisis, and the failed coup d’etat by a section of the Turkish armed forces in 2016. In this volatile environment, fake news, before it was known as such, thrived, fuelled by change and instability. Since the abortive putsch, independent media workers have been sacked in their thousands, and scores imprisoned; Turkey is now the world’s leading jailer of journalists, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Against this backdrop, Martin was drawn to explore Turkish soap operas, some of the most watched television shows in the world. The soap operas that had previously exported a simultaneously nostalgic and socially progressive vision of Turkey across the Arab world, refocused their storylines to emphasise the Turkish military and political power plots by deep state operatives, collusion by foreign powers, and terrorist attacks. Martin was introduced to a soap opera Director and given free rein to shoot on set, recording the action both during, before and after the cameras were rolling.

What began as a documentary project quickly spiralled into a deeper journey along the fault lines of truth, and the power of narratives to control reality. It is this dizzying blur of fact, urban myth, intense political fear and fiction pervading Turkish society – and Martin’s work – that we come together to discuss. Joining us will be storytellers of all stripes, from prizewinning authors to frontline journalists and translators.

Chair:

Maureen Freely was born in the United States, raised in Turkey, and educated at Harvard. A professor at the University of Warwick, she is currently the chair of English PEN. Her seventh novel, Sailing through Byzantium, was chosen as one of the best novels of 2014 by The Sunday Times. She has translated or co-translated a number of Turkish memoirs and classics, as well as five books by the Turkish novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. She is also the translator of two memoirs about Turkey’s Islamicized Armenians, and the biography of the Turkish-Armenian journalist and political activist Hrant Dink.

Speakers:

Guy Martin is a British documentary photographer. He graduated with a B.A(HONS) in Documentary Photography from the University of Wales, Newport and shortly afterwards, won the Guardian and Observer Hodge Award. He went on to pursue a long-term project in Southern Russia and the Caucasus, before documenting the revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa. His work regularly appears in the Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, Der Spiegel, D Magazine, FADER, Huck Magazine, Le Monde M Magazine, Time Magazine, Bloomberg Business Week Magazine, WIRED, Harpers and National Geographic.

The Parallel State was supported by grants from the Magnum Emergency Fund and the Saint-Brieuc Photoreporter Festival and was the winner of the inaugural Viewbook Transformations Grant, and the Project Launch Award at CENTER, Santa Fe, New Mexico. The project was first exhibited in the Rencontres d’Arles 2017 as part of the New Discovery Award. Martin is a member of Panos Pictures, and his print sales and special commissions are represented by NineteenSixtyEight. An exhibition of ‘The Parallel State’ will be on display at Benrubi Gallery, New York, in February 2019.

Pelin Turgut is a London-based writer, storyteller and international facilitator. Co-creator of the popular alternative film festival -!f Istanbul-, several unique storytelling courses at institutions across Europe and a teacher of the art of storytelling, her first novel Secrets of a Vanishing Country was published in Turkey last year. The book is currently being translated into English.

*Lunch included in the ticket price

Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.

Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.

The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.

Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde

Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.

Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.

The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.

Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde

Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.

Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.

The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.

Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde

Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.

Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.

The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.

Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde

This screening will be followed by a discussion with journalist Ed Vulliamy and Dan Jolin of Empire Magazine.

After rising through the ranks of her male-dominated profession, idealistic FBI agent Kate Macer (Emily Blunt) receives a top assignment. Recruited by mysterious government official Matt Graver (Josh Brolin), Kate joins a task force for the escalating war against drugs. Led by the intense and shadowy Alejandro (Benicio Del Toro), the team travels back-and-forth across the U.S.-Mexican border, using one cartel boss (Bernardo Saracino) to flush out a bigger one (Julio Cesar Cedillo).

Sicario was nominated for 3 BAFTA Film Awards, as well as the Palm d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

Ed Vulliamy is a writer for The Guardian and The Observer. In 2013, he won the award for literary reporting named after the Polish writer Ryszard Kapuściński for his book Amexica: War Along the Borderline, a vivid dissection of the violent US-Mexico ‘war on drugs’.

Dan Jolin is Features Editor of Empire magazine, the world’s biggest movie magazine. He has been working in film journalism since 1997.

Directed by: Dennis Villeneuve
Country: United States
Year: 2015
Runtime: 120′
Rating: R

Never has there been greater demand for stories based on real events. On screen, on the stage, on radio and in publishing, the crossover between fact and fiction is increasingly relevant, and increasingly lucrative.

Are you interested in learning how to turn true stories – either contemporary or historical – into compelling drama or fiction? This one-day workshop focuses on the art of fact-to-fiction adaptation. How do you know what makes a good story for drama? What are the tricks of crafting complex, sometimes unwieldy stories into satisfying fictional journeys? How do you make historical stories resonate with modern audiences? What are the ethical and legal implications of turning real people into fictional protagonists? And how do you go about pitching these stories to commissioners, producers and publishers.

The workshop is led by writer and journalist Hugh Costello, whose screenplay for the HBO film Bernard and Doris (based on a true story) was nominated for an Emmy. He has written many dramas for TV and radio and specialises in transforming complex real events – such as the banking collapse and the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic church – into powerful dramatic stories.

Image: via Shutterstock / jessicahyde

On Friday 19 June 2015, the Frontline Club held a screening of the genre-defying Those Who Feel the Fire Burning, an experimental film focusing on the experiences of those who risk their lives in order to reach the shores of Europe. The audience was joined by co-producer Katja Draaijer for a discussion following the screening.

Producer Katja Draaijer

On the film’s experimental narrative structure, Draaijer said: “It was always clear from the beginning that he [director Morgan Knibbe] wanted to tell the story from the perspective of a ghost. That’s why he used style elements from fiction films.”

“On the news we see all the numbers,” said Draaijer, “but he didn’t want to portray them [the refugees] as victims, but for we as an audience to experience what it is to be a refugee. That’s why he wanted to tell it from the perspective of a refugee himself.”

Asked by an audience member about the myriad languages spoken the film’s protagonists, Draaijer explained:
“Most of the time he [Knibbe] didn’t understand what was said. For the Arabic we had an Arabic translator… What he was really doing was intuitive, just really following them around. He didn’t care, really, about what they were saying. He just wanted to show the people what they do. How they cook, how they live. And that’s what he did. Sometimes he thought, ‘OK I have enough’ and turned the camera away. In the editing we found out that that really worked that way. It wasn’t so much about what they were telling us, [but] more about their experiences at the time.”

An audience member asked what personal impact the filmmaking process had on the director.

“When he started he was only 22,” replied Draaijer. “He wanted to help everyone by giving them money. So that was the first thing I said, ‘Don’t help these people by giving them money, you can help in another way.’

“I think after Lampedusa he was really emotional, for a long time… He wants the whole world to see it.”

For more information about the film and upcoming screenings, visit the Those Who Feel the Fire Burning Facebook page.

Gavin Rees and Erik Poppe discuss A Thousand Times Good Night at the Frontline Club

On Monday 28 April, the Frontline Club hosted a fully booked preview screening of the feature film A Thousand Times Good Night, which was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director, Erik Poppe, moderated by Gavin Rees from the Dart Centre Europe.

The film, which stars French actress Juliette Binoche, tells the story of a war photographer and the impact of her work, which often exposes her to danger, on her life and that of her family and their relationships with each other. The film begins with Rebecca, Binoche’s character photographing the lead up, execution and aftermath of a suicide bombing in Kabul. It is a semi-autobiographical film; Rebecca is based on Poppe and much of the film is based on experiences of the director’s own life, especially the “push and pull” of his career and family life.

Binoche met with different journalists, many of whom had spent a lot of time in Afghanistan and Kenya, as well as other countries, in order to prepare for her role as Rebecca and to understand her character and what it’s like to be a journalist. Poppe also mentioned that they were very close to taking a trip to Syria, before it “turned too crazy”, so she could meet with people and “feel the atmosphere and how it is”. He described how she wanted to go as far as she could to understand what it is like to do this job, and having to make difficult decisions. One of the questions touched on the ethics of being a photojournalist in conflict zones and having to make the decision to simply observe what is happening, and not intervene, even in fatal circumstances. Poppe said that this is a pressure that all journalists face, and is another layer of the complexity of Rebecca’s story in the film.  He talked about how important it is that you have the trust of the people you are following. If a situation becomes too difficult, “you can always withdraw”.

Many of the questions from the audience focused on the autobiographical nature of the film. Rees asked Poppe to highlight any parallels between Rebecca and himself, and which moments in the film are the most significant. Poppe told the audience that almost all the scenes are taken from his own life, with the exception of one: a very dramatic scene involving Rebecca and her eldest daughter Steph, who is based on Poppe’s eldest daughter, where Rebecca makes a decision, as a photographer, that sees her go towards danger, and away from her daughter.

“I wanted to create a scene where we . . . pushed her away from us. . . . I needed to have a scene that is believable from both perspectives. . . . It’s horrible that she does that for her kid, but still, I can also see from her point of view.”

Poppe discussed with the audience his own experiences as a photographer and filmmaker in conflict zones, and how it affects his family’s lives. He described the dilemma and guilt he feels about almost “putting them in a prison”:

“When I’m out there, doing this stuff, [my wife is] sort of captured in a sort of situation where . . . the TV is not on, for three weeks, four weeks, five weeks that I’m gone, the radio is not on, she is in a panic about getting any news, every time she hears that there is a suicide bomber in Kabul or in . . . Pakistan, she immediately thinks I’m in it, and . . . her life is ruined until she’s got a confirmation that, no, I wasn’t there. . . . She doesn’t watch anything anymore, and my eldest daughter is almost in the same position.”

He asks himself: “How can I allow myself to put them in that position?” This is the complexity that he wanted to show in the film, particularly the complexities involved with discussing his work with his children.

Later on in the Q&A, Poppe was asked about his definition of a hero, when an audience member said that he felt that journalists like Rebecca and Poppe are heroes, as they are putting themselves in danger in order to help others. Poppe disagreed, saying that, while the job that a professional journalist does is extremely important, there is also a degree of selfishness that comes with being a journalist:

“There is . . . an element of a rush . . . if I’m really honest, to be out there, that close to life and death, to tell those stories which you really feel are important . . . and that’s, sort of, more egocentric and not so sympathetic . . . if you really look at the whole . . . motivation.”

Instead, he feels that the local people who are making sacrifices in their lives are the heroes, while living in conflict zones and often being victims themselves, in order to help those around them.

A Thousand Times Good Night will be released in cinemas nationwide from Friday 2 May 2014, you can find the full listings here.

A Thousand Times Good Night tells the moving story of leading conflict photojournalist Rebecca (played by Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche) who is torn between a passion for her perilous work and love of her family. The film, which won the Special Grand Prix of the Jury at the Montreal Film Festival 2013, resonates with director Erik Poppe‘s own experiences from his years as a conflict photojournalist for Reuters.

On assignment while photographing a female suicide bomber in Kabul, Rebecca gets too close and is badly injured. Back home another bomb drops. Her husband (played by Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and daughter can no longer bear the thought of her dying for her work. She is given an ultimatum: her work, or her family life.

Directed by Erik Poppe
Duration: 111′
Year: 2013