The construction of cinematographic time in country and steppe films of post-1990 Turkey cinema

Using the concept of "time-image" introduced by Gilles Deleuze and of "chronotope" introduced by Mikhail Bakhtin, this study examines the cinematographic time regime constructed in steppe and country films of post-1990 Turkey cinema. Masumiyet [Innocence] (Zeki Demirkubuz, 1997), Yumurta [Egg] (Semih Kaplanoğlu, 2007), Zefir [Zephyr] (Belma Baş, 2010) Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da [Once Upon a Time in Anatolia] (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011), Gelecek Uzun Sürer [Future Lasts Forever] (Özcan Alper, 2011), Tepenin Ardı [Beyond the Hill] (Emin Alper, 2012) and Yozgat Blues (Mahmut Fazıl Coşkun, 2013) are the sample films of this study. With the introduction of time-image regime, optical and sound situations become important. These situations are realized by subjective images, memories of childhood, visual dreams or fantasies and refer directly to the time. There is not any successiveness in time mentioned here. Present is always in relation with past and future. According to Bakhtin, time and place are inseparable in narratives. They come together and construct chronotopes. A conceptual framework is formed by using time-image as the main concept and chronotope connecting the time and place. The films above-mentioned are analysed in this framework. They construct a cinematographic time, which is specific to steppe and country, by using narrative and technical/formal ways. As a result of this analysis, a time regime composed of recurring cycles and elapsing slowly is determined and it is seen that this regime is coincide with Deleuze's conceptualisation of time-image.