In his trainings and conferences for the world of education and academia in Turkey and around the world and in his visual stage artistic works, he deals with topics such as World Peace, Conflict Resolution, Cognitive and Behavioral Awareness Communication, Sustainability and Human Error Prevention, Sustainable Lives Based on Values.
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu, The story of Yorgancıoğlu’s transition from the world of cinema audience to the journey of production, promotion and criticism of the world of cinema is as follows. At the end of the 80s, during the summer semester of the years she was studying at Boğaziçi University, she started with all the coordination and correspondence with Director Yusuf Kurçenli and the film company he was affiliated with, and with all the coordination and correspondence regarding the submission of Blackout Nights, the film starring Tarık Akan in 1990, to the World Film Festivals. He took part in the coordination of the submission of the films in correspondence and consultations with many award-winning film organizations such as Venice Film Festival, Valladolid Film Festival, Spain. Her film criticism started with the cult Russian films and Italian festival films she watched at first. her first steps towards criticism. Then, her critical readings on cinema. He first received his training at the Turkish Cinema and Audiovisual Cultural Foundation -TÜRSAK in 1996 from the doyen of Turkey’s film critics, Attila Dorsay. Among the Cinema Teachers, there were also valuable names such as Hüseyin Kuzu (Scenario Training) Uğur İçbak (Cinematography-Lighting Knowledge)… The signature under the certificate was signed by Müjde Ari, an artist and former TÜRSAK Müjde Ari, who was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TÜRSAK.
Yorgancioglu has traveled to 107 countries and has been featured in various film festivals and screenings in local and national press with his “what if” critiques containing extraordinary details. His film readings on Almadovar’s films took place in different studies for weeks. It took him about 4 months to create the narratives for the movie Ulyse’s gaze.
Currently, Economist trainer world traveler artist Cigdem Yorgancioglu is doing different studies on learning with movie readings in her trainings and personal development workshops within the framework of her own unique educational approaches Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu MIM CHI 360 and Chi Lange Challenge CLC 360 Education. The artist’s book, which is the last poetic language educational material in Turkish English language by Artshop Publishing, draws attention to issues such as Sustainability Water scarcity. And Çiğdem yorgancıoğlu has included lyrics in the foreword overture section of this last book.
“UVERTÜRHumanities and social sciences are trying to explain the situation of Modern Man in different ways every day, and the new generation is always rebuilding the Modern Man of the Modern Age by bringing its own technological innovation, innovation, dominance, governance and socio-economics to the present day, and while building, it is also destroying and destroying itself. In the modern age, humanity is burdened with its own burden and the burden of history. Our world and its inhabitants are caught in such a cycle that disrupts the harmony between order and chaos that sometimes words are not enough to explain the loss of meaning in the search for meaning. Maybe poetry is the door to the heart and mind. Maybe poetic breezes are the name of the road to the hearts that will give voice to my objection.”
Sabanci Foundation Short Film Competition Award Night
The Sabancı Foundation, which supports many activities with the understanding that inspiring stories can only be shared with the society, has been organizing the Short Film Competition for 8 years. With the competition, the foundation aims to raise awareness on social issues by making use of the creative perspective and impact power of cinema. In previous years, the competition was organized with the themes of “Refugee Women”, “Child Laborers”, “Discrimination”, “Digital Loneliness”, “Changing Climates, Changing Lives”, “New Professions in the New World”, “Young Women Neither in Education nor Employment”. This year, the competition was centered on the “Water Crisis” with the slogan “In Short, We Suffer from Thirst”.
While among the finalists of the Short Film Competition among 163 short films from 23 cities in Turkey (Among the finalists, Mehmet Gürü Avcu’s “Anthropocene”, Eren Halıcı’s “One More Day”, Ersin Coşkunkanlıgil’s “Once Upon a Time, Once Upon a Time”, Umut Kırcalı’s “CRP”, Güllü Duman Yegen and Mehmet Gültekin’s “Düş”, Can Yeşiloğlu’s “Düşlerdeki Hayat”, Evrim İnci’s “Mimas”, Mert İnan’s “Son Fide”, Cihan Yıldırım’s “Sona Doğru”, Sinan Kaldan’s “Vahşi”, Gülşah Erdur Un’s “Yapboz” and Ömer Faruk İlhan’s “Yevmiye”. Can Yeşiloğlu, who was awarded the first prize, was born in Izmir. He was a founding member of art-centered organizations such as Surrealist Action Turkey and Periferi Collective. He participated in many exhibitions and organizations with his painting, illustration, animation and interdisciplinary productions. He opened two solo exhibitions. In 2020, with his first short animated film No!, he received an honorable mention in the 5th Sabancı Foundation Short Film Competition and participated in many screenings.
At the award ceremony, Güler Sabancı, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, stated that the aim of the competition was to draw attention to social issues as well as to support young artists.
When we look at the award-winning films and their directors, we see that the First Prize went to Can Yeşiloğlu, who has participated in many exhibitions and organizations with his painting, illustration, animation and interdisciplinary productions, for “Life in Dreams”. The Second Prize went to Cihan Yıldırım for “Sona Doğru” The Third Prize went to Mehmet Gürü Avcu for “Anthropocene” The Honorable Mention Award went to Sinan Kaldan for “Wild” The Social Impact Award went to : Cihan Yıldırım for “Towards the End” by Mike Downey, President of the European Film Academy (EFA), producer and writer. After the family photo was taken, the event ended with a cocktail in the foyer. Traces of the interactions with the artists remained during the cocktail.
One of the guests at the exhibition was the world-traveler and extraordinary film reader, instructor, and artist Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu. In her verbal explanations, she explains why she is glad to have attended the event. She points out that unless wastewater is reused, primitive irrigation in agriculture is replaced by high technology, red meat consumption does not decrease, and water continues to be wasted, a Pentagon report indicates that by the year 2033, 3 billion people will face water shortages. The same report also predicts that some conflicts threatening global stability and security will be primarily caused by water scarcity. UN Sustainable Development Goal 6 is related to “clean water and sanitation for everyone.” It is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. A reference point emphasized frequently in education and conferences. Just saying the following would be enough about the theme selection: According to various data, around 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to clean drinking water sources. Every year, 1.4 million people lose their lives due to unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation. According to the World Resources Institute’s Water Stress Map, by the year 2040, Turkey is expected to be one of the countries most affected by water scarcity. In statements to various news agencies after the event, Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu stated the following: Although Hacı Ömer Sabancı has closed his eyes to life and migrated from this world to the afterlife (may his soul rest in peace), he lives and continues to be preserved in line with the principle of “sharing what we gain from these lands with the people of these lands.” Embracing this principle as its founding philosophy, the Sabancı Foundation has been carrying out its activities with determination for over 40 years with a love for humanity and the goal of providing more benefit to society. Working towards a society that allows equal access to rights for all individuals, the Foundation is one of the steps taken towards contributing to education, cultural, artistic, and social development. The Sabancı Foundation’s “Short Film Long Impact” competition, organized for the eighth time this year with the slogan, aims to raise awareness and benefit from its transformative effect through cinema on social issues. The President of the European Film Academy (EFA), producer, and writer Mike Downey is also present here. The winners of this competition not only increased awareness for the audience in the hall but also provided sensitive and emotional moments.
The first prize went to the film “Life in Dreams” directed by Can Yeşiloğlu, and in a literal sense, it touched Zülfia. I congratulate the jury; each of them achieved a meaningful and beautiful ranking among unique and valuable works. A water droplet had merged into the film, becoming a tear, and the protagonist, like a migrant bird, was like a tear. One of the most gratifying elements for me was the absence of an inconsistency in emotion and sincerity between the story to be told and the director. Not only in the short film category but also in Turkish animation, a breath that is based on values, original and free, naive, and equally striking and sharp in the language of cinema storytelling, is new, bright, and promising. Motion capture technology, real-time animation; augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and their integrations with holographic animation and three-dimensional imaging; the constantly evolving technology actually faces the animation world, new generation animation trends, interactive animations, and interactive animation technologies with the audience are all growing, evolving, and transforming exponentially. I am sure that it will achieve significant contributions and successes in many more projects. In short, without water, there is no life, in short, without green!
If we are ready to share the collective responsibility of creating a more beautiful world for ourselves and future generations, life in our dreams is within reach. Preserving nature and vitality, being socially responsible, and directly confronting how we contribute to these problems all require us to be aware. In this regard, each film is extremely beautiful and consciousness-raising on this journey.
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu, Sabancı Kısa Film Yarışması birincisinin eserine dair tek cümle özetini şöyle yorumluyor: “Yeşiloğlu’ndan yeşilini yaprağını dökmeyen harika bir içerik bu film.”
Çiğdem Yorgancıoğlu’nun, Can Yeşiloğlu’nun birincilik ödülüne layık görülen “DÜŞLERDEKİ HAYAT” filmi ile ilgili değerlendirmelerinden bazı açıklamaları şöyle oldu.
Like an educational document, this film is an evergreen content that doesn’t shed its green leaves from Yeşiloğlu.
From my perspective, in 3 minutes and 58 seconds, it hits the mind, heart, awareness, and conscience of a person with pinpoint accuracy. Along with my latest book, in the sustainability-themed trainings that I conduct, film reading days, and with the artist’s permission, if possible. Even afterwards, to the extent permitted by the law and with the artist’s consent, I would like to showcase a short film without infringing on copyright, incorporating my own content and narrative, and discuss it, contributing to the emergence of different inspirations.
For me, it’s not just a successful short film but also an “evergreen content, this film,” as I say, not shedding its green leaves from Yeşiloğlu. That’s the meaning. Even in dystopian films about future realities, including animations, a sarcastic and mocking cinematic language is usually used. Can Yeşiloğlu, however, interprets this phenomenon from a completely different perspective, making it quite original. As seen in the film, “no water, no life” – the film flows like water, permeating through us.
The clarity of a simple, naive, and sharp imaginative narrative language that does not deviate from focus.
There are no unnecessary elements and images and exaggerated camera movements that would distract from the main theme, or that would make the issue more complicated by imposing an ideology, or that would distract from the main theme by referring to the hegemonic structure of the system that is constantly under surveillance, monopolistic capitalism, despotic rule, autocratic totalitarian rule, which is common in most dystopian films. However, a camera eye, which evokes a surveillance society and reminds us a little of 1984’s Big Brother Is Watching You, winks at the audience in the first sequence of the movie. Maybe that eye is the transition winking in the dreamlike scene in the last sequence of the movie.
After the award ceremony at the Sabancı Center, I met Yeşiloğlu for the first time and after the congratulations, I wanted to ask him many questions about the film and the collaboration of artists in various stages of the film and the awareness they gained, but I did not want to enlarge my share while enjoying his victory. I will continue to stay in dialogue with him about his work and I will share the answers to my other questions with you in the coming days.
Drought and Desert
The movie opens with the slogan “No water, no life”. With iconic connotation in its own visual imagery at first. I felt like I was inviting two robots, C-3PO and R2-D2, to watch this movie on the fictional desert planet of Tatooine, the vast and desolate desert planet of StarWars, orbiting a pair of binary stars and inhabited by various other life forms besides human inhabitants, with its beige-colored tones dominated by double sunsets. Part of the video for A NEW HOPE Clip – “Droids in Tatooine” (1977) from the trio’s 1977 film New Hope
In the meantime, I would like to bring to your attention who was speaking Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Seasons 1, 2 and 3. You know how Güler Sabancı, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Sabancı Holding and the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı Foundation, started the first minutes of her segment of the program by thanking Yekta Kopan, the host of the contest? That was the name that gave voice to the Star Wars character. Obi-Wan Kenobi. This was not Kopan’s first contribution to this traditional Sabancı Film Festival.
Cacotopia – Dystopia
If not for a few living beings, it is as if the switch has been turned off in an unmanned town. Are there robots in the cars in the opening sequence of the movie? I first wondered from which energy source the television, the opening sequence, the roller coaster gets its energy. In the meantime, while the lack of people makes the idea of a certain migration prevail, the fact that the life near the town somehow continues despite the water shortage suggests that the disaster that led people to migrate is not a nuclear disaster. There is a contextualization of a climate migration that probably overlaps with the main theme.
LAST MINUTE NEWS – BREAKING NEWS: WATER-STEALING THIEF CAPTURED
In the next shot, I found the choice of narrative language and the image of “The thief who stole water was caught” in the dystopian “Breaking News” images on the open TV dystopian “Breaking News” broadcast in the place where the cat, who is watching outside through the window turned sideways to the Open TV and whose purring sound is heard a few times, is passing by, very striking. In this context, in the upper right corner in that sequence, there is a fish sculpture that will appear on the screen in the next shot without a drop of water in its open mouth. With the connotation of the image that appears on the main news on this screen, I perceived the possibility of being a critical emphasis on the strange situation of presenting films that deal with catastrophic dystopian images to the society for economic benefit and box office records as a critical approach that is extremely meaningful, open-ended and not completely turned into black humor. I wonder if it was like that? I don’t know if there is a special meaning in the dreamy fairy tale-like last sequence, the same fish placed in the left part of the screen, maybe there may be a special meaning in the center on the right and in the lower left corner. I wonder if these are critical selections.
WHY IS THE TOWN DESERTED, HAS THE APOCALYPSE COME TO MIND FIRST, THOUGH IT IS WATER SCARCITY AND CLIMATE MIGRATION.
While emphasizing the idea that depopulation is a certain form of migration, the liveliness near the town, despite water scarcity, suggests that the disaster driving people to migrate is not a nuclear catastrophe or an asteroid impact. We cannot precisely say it’s a post-apocalyptic scenario, but historical evidence and scientific readings have taught us that signs of life persist even when different species face extinction. A migration theme emerges due to drought, specifically climate migration.
When watching these films, one cannot stay still like a passive viewer; one becomes restless and uncomfortable upon contemplating the bigger picture. I wanted to ask questions first to the artists, to the creators.
For instance, when looking at the award-winning film ‘Obruk,’ did you ponder on the water consumption of corn, gaining different insights into increased water consumption or wild irrigation through the film? What were the interactions among artists during the preparation of the project? Or in the award-winning film ‘Anthropocene,’ drawing attention to the extinction of the tiger barbel and endemic species as Hasankeyf is submerged, did it increase your desire for knowledge and curiosity on that topic? Or watching a documentary film depicting various endangered species, including a rabbit hanging by its feet in the region where the Ilısu Dam is located, how could the heart of a compassionate person not tremble?
In short, I’m grateful to be part of this project; I’ve learned and realized so much, and I will certainly share impressions about these questions and answers in the coming days. Thank you.
Artist YORGANCIOĞLU also said the following about the actor-artist SALİH BADEMCİ, who took part in the COMPETITION JURY
The jury included film critic Alin Taşçıyan, actors Salih Bademci and Tilbe Saran, producer Jamillah Van Der Lust Hulst and script consultant Suzanne Pradel. The Social Impact Jury included journalist Nilay Örnek, architect Özgül Öztürk and social entrepreneur Yasemin Kırkağaçlıoğlu.
In the competition titled “The Responsibility of My Future; The Art of Living” organized in cooperation with Istanbul Medipol University and the Association of Goodness for Young People, I understood that he would be in social responsibility projects and in the fields of sustainability when the awards were given to the ‘Best of the Year’ and when he was selected as the best actor, I was not mistaken, the first moment I realized that I watched him was his acting success in “Öyle Bir Geçer Zaman Ki”. he is now in the series #dilektaşı. Today he was on the jury and presented the honorable mention award to the successful director.
