FAR FROM THE CITY
Documentary, Reality Show
60' - Turkish - 2020/2024 - 52 Episodes
TRT 1 - TRT Documentary
"Away from the City" is a production that explores the real face of rural life that city people are curious about in villages all over Turkey. The program, which presents village life with its beauties as well as its difficulties, which is often romanticized in popular culture, goes beyond clichés while addressing modern individuals' dreams of settling in the village.
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Actor Kıvanç Kasabalı experiences every aspect of village life firsthand in a different village in each episode, from agriculture to animal husbandry, from traditional production techniques to seasonal challenges, by living with the local people. The documentary has a narrative that not only shows but makes viewers feel, as the presenter works in the field with boots stuck in mud, milks sheep, or cuts wood.
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The documentary documented each region's unique lifestyle, production methods, and daily rituals with a visual atmosphere specific to the region by visiting villages in various geographies of Turkey, from the Black Sea to the Aegean, from Central Anatolia to the East. It achieved the highest ratings on the channel for four years and found a significant response on social media.
TRACES AND PICTURES
Documentary, Culture, Art, Photography
1 5' - Turkish -2020/2021 - 26 Episodes
TRT 2 Art
"Traces Forms" makes the process of creating works visible by documenting the working methods and intellectual background of Turkish photographers. The series, broadcast on the TRT 2 Art channel, examines artists' individual forms of expression and their relationship with social reality, transcending the technical dimension of photography.
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In this series, brought to life under the direction of Seyfettin Tokmak with the cinematography of KaÄŸan Daldal, the camera enters the artists' private spaces - their studios, archives, and shooting locations - becoming a direct witness to the creation processes. While recording the working disciplines of photographers with different approaches such as Orhan Cem Çetin, Ahmet ErtuÄŸ, Ali Alışır, and Suzan PektaÅŸ, it documents the multi-voiced structure of Turkish photography.
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It asks concrete questions about the relationship between art, society, identity, and culture through the works of artists across a wide range, from architectural photography to alternative printing techniques, from documentary approaches to conceptual works.
THE LAST GATHERERS
Document, Nature, Human
​25' - Turkish - 2019 - 12 Episodes
TRT Documentary
"The Last Gatherers" documents the relationship between humans and nature through subsistence practices outside the modern economy. The 12-episode series, directed by KaÄŸan Daldal with cinematography by Woody Milagro, records traditional gathering and production methods that continue to exist in the face of changing technology and consumption habits.
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The documentary follows the daily lives of people who make their living by gathering from nature in different regions of Turkey: Aegean gatherers climbing 20-30 meter high trees for pine nuts, villagers searching for frogs in Marmara region swamps, pigeon guano gatherers in Cappadocia's volcanic geography, and divers who cannot swim collecting mussels in the dangerous waters of the Bosphorus.
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Each episode takes the viewer to the depths of a different ecosystem: sometimes watching people pursuing "black gold," known as bat guano in pristine caves' darkness, sometimes witnessing the difficult struggle of fishermen risking their own lives to collect ghost nets threatening marine life off the coast of Büyükada.
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Narrated by Mazlum Kiper, "The Last Gatherers" reveals a reality of Turkey that urban viewers cannot see by documenting these gathering practices that have remained in the shadow of industrial production.
RIKKI'S TURKIYE ROUTE
Documentary, Travel, Food
26 ' - Turkish -2017/2018 - 13 Episodes
TRT Documentary
​Rikki Roath, an American traveler and chef, explores organic farming methods and traditional culinary culture in Turkey Route.
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Rikki, who has been living in Turkey for four years, serves not only as a presenter in this documentary but also as a cultural bridge. Whether collecting bay leaves in hidden corners of the Lycian Way, tracing organic honey produced by bees living in rock cavities in the mountains of SeydiÅŸehir, or learning how to make the forgotten Pelver dessert from Cappadocia's local flavors, her curious perspective offers viewers a fresh perspective.
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The documentary offers rich and authentic content, from Rikki setting out in a canoe on the Mediterranean coast to collect seaweed for pickling, to pursuing the rare morel mushroom in Kuru Ova and experiencing the nomadic culture of the Taurus Mountains.
TEMPEST AT CROSSROADS
Documentary, Politics, History, Current Affairs
​60' - English - 2015/2016 - 8 Episodes
TRT World
"Tempest at Crossroads" is a documentary series examining the historical background and multidimensional effects of the Arab Spring.
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The documentary, presented by Alican Ayanlar, investigates the relationship between social movements in the Middle East and North Africa with the colonial legacy, economic inequalities, external interventions, and local dynamics. The shoots, carried out under the cinematography of KaÄŸan Daldal, cover a wide geography from street demonstrations to palace corridors, from war zones to refugee camps.
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The documentary uses a narrative structure that brings together academics and politicians' analyses with the testimonies of people on the street. Interviews with more than a hundred people across three continents include both those who initiated the protests and those affected by the process. Shoots ranging from think tanks in London to rural areas of Tunisia, from Cairo squares to conflict zones in Yemen document different faces of regional change.
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With a chronological narrative extending from the first protests in Tunisia to the complex developments in Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, the documentary examines the social transformation between 2010-2016 in its historical context. This approach aims to provide a more in-depth analysis of events frequently simplified in media narratives.
LOOKING BACK 100 YEARS...
Documentary , Art, Cinema
80' - Turkish -2014 - Feature Length
"100-Year Perspective" is a documentary study examining the change in the visual language of Turkish cinema over a century. The film addresses the transformation of the technical and narrative features of Turkish cinema within the framework of interactions with world cinema and the effects of local conditions.
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The documentary documents the visual narrative of Turkish cinema in periods with archive studies and interviews with names from different areas of the industry. It shows with examples from films how the unique technical possibilities and social conditions of each period shaped cinema from 1914 to the present.
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The study, which analyzes changes in camera use, lighting techniques, framing approaches, and color applications in the process from YeÅŸilçam to the contemporary period, also examines the social and economic background of these transformations. It documents the reflections of trends in world cinema on Turkish cinema and original solutions developed under local conditions with excerpts from period films.
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The production brings together the contributions of director KutluÄŸ Ataman, Erden Kıral, Duygu SağıroÄŸlu, and Tayfun PirselimoÄŸlu from different generations of Turkish cinema; cinematographers UÄŸur Ä°çbak and Gökhan Tiryaki; film critics Burçak Evren and Alin TaÅŸçıyan; producer Necip Sarıcı, and academics.
A FRAME FOR LIFE: Haiti
Documentary
A FRAME FOR LIFE: Haiti
Documentary
80' - Turkish - 2011 - Feature Length
TRT World
'A Frame for Life' constructs a language through the photographs taken and diaries kept by photographer Niko Guido who went to Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
The conversation between Guido and journalist-writer Ece Temelkuran over Guido's striking photographs examines how the destruction was built on a political-historical infrastructure, while also providing a perspective on the entire history of colonialism, particularly in Haiti.
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The documentary relates Haiti's turbulent history from French colonialism to America's economic hegemony to the destruction caused by the earthquake, showing how global inequality deepens in the face of natural disasters. Ece Temelkuran's sharp analysis and questioning prompt viewers to think about disaster aid and international interventions.
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Guido's photographs, capturing the hopes and resistance of people struggling to survive, bring together the tragedy and dignity of the Haitian people in the same frame. While documenting the extent of the destruction, the documentary also emphasizes global responsibility and the importance of solidarity.
WOMEN'S STORIES
Documentary
60 ' - Turkish -2012 - Feature Length
TRT Documentary
A very old tradition in the Gulf of Gökova, family fishing, and its most important part, women...
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The story of women's fishing in Akyaka, Akbük, and Akçapınar... Nets and longlines still cast with hope and love, even though the old abundance and plenty now remain only in memories...
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"Women's Stories" focuses on the lives of women fishers who make their living from the blue waters of the Aegean, documenting a cultural heritage that is on the verge of disappearing. Traditional fishing knowledge passed down from generation to generation continues to live in the hands of these women, in the shadow of changing economic conditions and environmental transformation.
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The documentary tells with intimate language the daily struggles of women living in three fishing villages in the Gulf of Gökova, their deep connection with the sea, and the impact of changing ecological balance on traditional lifestyles. Women fishers, with their hands casting nets, preparing longlines, and cleaning fish in boats setting out from the shore, not only contribute to the family's livelihood but also carry the sea culture that has continued for generations.
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In today's world, where nets that once easily filled with the sea's abundance now struggle, these women's dedication to the sea and profession, their hopes and dreams continue to echo on the shores surrounded by the deep blue waters of the Aegean.
