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Kutlug Ataman
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The first time Kutlug Ataman attended the Berlin Film Festival, it was through the back door - literally. The writer/director of Lola und Bilidikid, which premiered yesterday in the Panorama, bussed it all the way from Turkey to get to his first Berlinale. "I was so broke that I sneaked into screenings," admitted the 37-year-old in a phone interview from Istanbul. |
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Well, things have come full circle for the Turkish-born film-maker. Lola, his fourth feature, examines the seamy side of the Berlin gay scene from a decidedly Oriental perspective: the Turkish transvestite and hustler milieu. "It's not autobiographical," he said. "But every element in the film comes from a true story. I manipulated the material to make it fit into one consistent entity. It was a "five-year adventure"
for Ataman to get his idea into production. He worked on several drafts
and eventually, through Good Machine International and Berlin-based
Zero Film, got financing - mostly through grants, TV co-production deals
and a contribution from Turkish investors. |
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Casting took three years. "I was very particular," he explained. "I believe that every part has its own actor." Ataman lived on and off in Berlin for two years. In his research, he worked with the German police, other government agencies and gay and Aids support groups, as well as interviewing right-leaning radicals. Opening the Panorama section of the Berlinale, he said, was "one of the scariest experiences of my life, but a 'happy scary'." Unlike the time he was tortured by police during the 1980 military coup in Turkey. His Super-8 films of political events were the reason he was detained for 38 days along with many others. He left Turkey for the US and stayed in exile for four years. Ataman said this his cinematic influences had changed down the years. But ultimately, he added, "my films really reflect my own psyche". He has a couple of future projects in the works, but isn't yet free to discuss them. "It will all be defined in Berlin," he said. Owen Levy |