Old Concepts, New Contents: The City, Cinema and the Stranger

This study is a cinematic portrait not of the real, but essentially of the updated Istanbul. In the case of the strangers of cinematic Istanbul, the most strategic, useful, as well as the most difficult step for updating the city's image is to shift the axis from its centres, touristic places, familiar characters, common values and usual events to its corners, secondary places and characters, minimalist conditions, ambivalent values and current changes. For this purpose this study analyzes five films as sociological testimonies without touching upon their details but by focusing on their references: Politiki Kouzina/Bir Tutam Baharat/A Touch of Spice (Tassos Boulmetis, 2003), Koprudekiler/Men on the Bridge (Asli Ozge, 2009), Kac Para Kac/A Run for Money (Reha Erdem, 1999), Uzak/Distant (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002), and 11'e 10 Kala/10 to 11 (Pelin Esmer, 2009). These films, which constitute the framework of this research, are breaking points of modern Istanbul's social and urban history and of changing form of strangers.