Cinema History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey: Method, and Approaches

Starting from the 2000s, the growth of cinema history has led to the broadening of subject matter and the use of more varied sources. Numerous original studies have reoriented cinema history of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, even long after Nurullah Tilgen’s short piece in 1939 and Rak？m ？alapala’s article in 1946. Scholars of film studies limited themselves not only to film criticism, but also employed the sort of textual analysis inspired by cinema and literature and historical methodology centered on archives. The historicity of films as visual sources became a focus for historians, who now embraced film in the interdisciplinary methodology of historical studies. Even after these positive steps, the study of cinema history is hampered by problems of methods, sources, and approaches. Thus, it is very important that the experts who study Ottoman and Turkish cinema history exchange ideas that clarify fundamental issues and offer suggested solutions. Such collaboration has the potential of reaching a more solid background for further research. A group of researchers working on cinema history gathered at a virtual platform in January, 2018, and conducted a round table entitled “Cinema History of Ottomans/Turkey: Method, Source and Approaches.” At this meeting, new topics were identified along with some of the above-mentioned issues. It is our hope that such fruitful meetings continue to deepen our discussions and to open new fields