An investigation of Eurimages supported Turkish films in the frame of the self orientalism concept: 2014-2018

In this study, it has been examined whether the Eurimages fund creates self-orientalist tendencies in Turkish cinema in line with the orientalist perspective and expectations of the West. The aim of the thesis is; with films supported by Eurimages, an international power that has control over the financing, production and distribution of motion pictures to examine the positioning of Turkey, to reveal the effect of foreign funding in the representation of the West-East construction. The study has been limited to cover the past five years in order to collect data from the current period, however, it has been observed that the method used can also be applied to films outside the scope. In addition, in accordance with the purpose of the study, films awarded from European film festivals evaluated in category A were sampled. In the first part of the study, the concepts of orientalism and self-orientalism are explained with their historical processes, Turkey self-orientalism stages of development have been discussed in private, and the relationship of both concepts with the art of cinema has been revealed. In the second part, the effects of Eurimages, which is explained comprehensively with its structure and functioning, on Turkish Cinema are presented. In the third part, Mustang, Frenzy, Album, Something Useful, Passed by Censor and Sibel films included in the study were analyzed using content and discourse analysis. As a result of the analysis, it has been observed that the emphasis on the difference between "us" and "the other" in films supported by Eurimages and were made visible at international Western film festivals is presented in the Eastern-Western, traditional-modern, advanced-undeveloped contrasts in the classical sense. On the other hand, Turkey's social, cultural and economic sense, as represented in a traditional line, repressive regimes, conservative, racist, nationalist, patriarchal, homophobic ideologies, sexual deviance, exotic associated with the East, the mystical stories, from political issues, especially the Kurdish issue, it is determined that they are positioned on very similar issues.