Bengaluru is in the grip of film festival frenzy. And film festival maven, Turkish film producer-director Mevlut Akkaya talks of what a film festival can do to a film and filmmaker. “Going to an international film festival is like having a business card,” he smiles. “It opens you up for the international film market.”
In Bengaluru for the 7 Bengaluru International Film Festival (BIFFES), he’s on the NETPAC (Network for Promotion of Asian Cinema) jury. A former festival director of the New York Turkish Film Festival, he is involved with several film festivals as creator, adviser and jury member, including the Brazilian Film Festival, Eureka International Film Festival, and Skip City D-Cinema Film Festival in Japan. He is also credited with facilitating the screening of more than 500 films in the United States during the past 10 years. He studied motion picture production at the Brooklyn College in New York. His 2013 documentary When Comedy Went To School explores a boot camp where famous comedians went to hone their skills.
“A good film is a good film, no matter what genre it belongs to,” declares Akkaya, who works out of New York, where his production house that produces a whole lot of independent feature films and documentaries, Akaya Films, is based. “I don’t know what I’m looking for till I see a film. It’s important to deal with social issues, but a film has to entertain,” he smiles. While he says that what gets a film selected for a festival changes from year to year , and the place where it is held, he points out how despite the constant tussle between commercial and art filmmakers, who criticise each other, “for me, the audience, and the industry, both are important”.
At BIFFES he was looking forward to watching his first Kannada film. “Outside India, we don’t know anything about Kannada films!” he says in amusement.
“When you go to a new country, you meet new people and it opens up your mind, and you look at the world with a little wider lens. It helps young filmmakers learn more about themselves too.”
Akkaya wrote and directed the film A Jazz Story , featuring jazz legend Gary Bartz. The film has been shown in many International film festivals, including Kino International Film Festival and The Oceanside Film Festival. His short film Kanake , shot in Germany, tackles the subject of racism.
“The film came form my experience of being a non-German in Germany and tells the story of a day in the life of a young skinhead,” says Akkaya. The film screened at The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival, AFI Film Festival, and Sedona Film Festival. He’s currently producing Naked Mind , a documentary that took seven years to make and is shot across 12 countries, and looks at the impact of Buddhism across the Western world. “I’m also working on a documentary on Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, the boxer wrongly convicted of a triple-murder,” says Akkaya. As a producer, he’s guided the development of the films such as Following Bliss, Reality Trap, Last Looks, and The Doorman .
Talking of the mother of all film festivals, Cannes, Akkaya stresses: “If your film is selected for the competition section at Cannes, it changes your life forever.” The possibilities of what can happen are endless, he adds — you can get a job offer, it can help you finance your next film, you could end up being in a collaborative production. “It happened to me. To be recognised is very important. Film festivals are about networking and meeting international filmmakers. Even if you continue your relationship with even 10 per cent of the people you met, who know, you could end up making a film together!”
Mevlüt Akkaya is an award-winning producer and director of stage and screen, and has been an active member of the international entertainment community for over a decade. He studied at Anadolu University in Turkey, Dortmund University in Germany, and where he was awarded a scholarship. Since 1996, Akkaya has focused on cinema, working in various capacities for several independent films and commercials.
He has also produced numerous commercials for the DFA, Tulumba, and Cola Turka. He has been a cultural bridge between the United States and Europe, having brought many projects from Europe to the U.S. Akkaya was Supervising Producer for the film "Toss- Up", which won numerous international awards, and a record-setting 11 awards at the Antalya Film Festival, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Script, and Best Actor. The film was also officially selected to screen at the respected Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the Montreal International Film Festival, and the Kiev International Film Festival. He also directed and produced a documentary about American Stand-up comedy, “When Comedy Went to School” with Jerry Lewis, Larry King, Jackie Mason, Jerry Stiller and many other well known artists.
In addition to directing and producing, Akkaya also organises film festivals.
