Narrative structure and the representation of individual in non – mainstream Turkish cinema: The case of Pelin Esmer's Cinema

In terms of Turkish cinema, the years in which non-mainstream art films became more apparent against mainstream cinema, indicate the period after Yeşilçam. After the 90s, known as the post-Yeşilçam period, the films by directors, who attracted attention with their different narrative structures, became the focus of many cinema studies. Pelin Esmer is one of the female directors, who attracted attention with her personal narrative and style in the post-Yeşilçam period. But the research studies conducted on this subject are quite limited. In the following era, Pelin Esmer continued to develop the creative aspects of personal cinema. The starting point of this study is the lack of thorough and detailed exploration studies on fictional films of Pelin Esmer, which are thought to exhibit the narrative features of non-mainstream films, such as "10 to 11" (2009), "Watchtower" (2012), "Something Useful" (2017). Therefore, this study is aimed to be a source for the studies after it. In the course of this study, it was concluded that Pelin Esmer's fictional films exhibited certain narrative characteristics of non-mainstream films. Consequently, it is understood that; Pelin Esmer's individual representations find themselves in extreme conditions of the narrative world and are detailed with realistic features.