The first documentary covering Atatürk’s life from his early years in Salonika to his final years in Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul will be on screen on Oct. 29. The documentary, written and directed by journalist Can Dündar, the maker of the renowned documentary ‘Sarı Zeybek’

ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News
A documentary on the life of Atatürk, the first to follow the entire life of the founder of the Turkish Republic, is coming to the silver screen at the end of this month.

The documentary, called Mustafa, was written and directed by Can Dündar, journalist and documentary director. Atatürk has never been properly introduced to the Turkish public, to the world and to younger generations, even though 70 years have passed since his death in 1938, said the press release on the film, arguing the documentaries produced thus far have focused only on certain periods and appealed only to a domestic audience.

This is the first documentary covering Atatürk’s life from his early years in Thessalonica to his final years in Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul and representing all military, political and personal aspects of his personality, said the press release.

The documentary was produced by the maker of the renowned documentary Sarı Zeybek and a number of others over the last 15 years on Atatürk’s life. The documentary team was given special permission to open many national and international archives, including those at the President’s Office and the General Staff.

During shooting several previously unseen photos, memoirs, special letters and manuscripts of Atatürk were used. The production team traveled from Thessalonica to Manastır, Damascus to Berlin, Sofia to Karlsbad any places that Atatürk lived. Some scenes were even shot in the room where he was born and the one where he died. A detailed literature review was made of books written about Atatürk, national and international newspapers and diplomatic letters.

The documentary tells Atatürk’s life from an objective point of view and tries to give a sympathetic account of a real-life story. His personal belongings, memoirs, headquarters where he worked, houses where he lived, documents that he left, songs he liked and remarks he uttered were all used in the documentary, the release said.

Internationally known Balkan-origin musician Goran Bregovic composed the soundtrack for the film.

The film will begin showing Sept. 29.

Comrades, if I don’t live to see the day
– I mean,if I die before freedom comes –
take me away
and bury me in a village cemetery in Anatolia.

The worker Osman whom Hassan Bey ordered shot
can lie on one side of me, and on the other side
the martyr Aysha, who gave birth in the rye
and died inside of forty days.
Nazim Hikmet, Last Will and Testament

Yoldaşlar, nasip olmazsa görmek o günü,
ölürsem kurtuluştan önce yani,
alıp götürün
Anadolu`da bi köy mezarlığına gömün beni, Hasan beyin vurdurduğu
ırgat Osman yatsın bir yanımda
ve çavdarın dibinde toprağa çocuklayıp
kırkı çıkmadan ölen şehit Ayşe öbür yanımda.
Nazim Hikmet,Vasiyet

The strength of a beautiful poetic description is one of the easiest ways to take a reader to a country’s cultural journey.This was probably what Attila Koc had in mind (Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism) when in Fall 2006 he and Jürgen Boos (Director of the Book Fair) agreed on the Turkish Guest of Honour appearance in 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair. The Frankfurt Book Fair is the second largest book fair in the world with a tradition that spans over almost 500 years. If we look at some of the statistics it becomes easier to understand the importance of the fair:- In 2006, 7,272 exhibitors from 113 countries presented their products on an area of around 172,000 square meters.
- Showed a total of 111,913 new publications out of total exhibits of 382,466 titles.
- 286,621 people came to the Frankfurt Book Fair over the five days of the 2006 event, more than 183,000 of them were trade visitors.
- Around 11,000 journalists from 66 countries were accredited for the Book Fair 2006. (Source: http://www.buchmesse.de/en/portal.php )A Turkish organization committee has been preparing multiple programs in order to fully represent the heterogeneous Turkish culture with all of its richness and variety, both at the fair in Frankfurt and throughout the year in different German cities. The framework of art and culture during the fair will unify and bring so many fractured Turkish groups together. The organization during the fair will include Orhan Pamuk’s (a prominent author dealing with law suits due to his comments about sensitive national topics) opening of his “Innocence Museum” exposition and Fazil Say’s Nazim Hikmet (a prominent poet whose work was banned in Turkey in 1940s and 1950s) Oratorio. It will be amazing to observe this unifying power at work in this October.

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