IRMAK AKGÜR
Turkish filmmaker and photographer.
Published September 1 2023 for Issue No.1
Interview by: Chandler Crump
Photography by: Chandler Crump
Stylist: Chandler Crump & Irmak Akgur
CHANDLER CRUMP (CC): What would you say is the logline to your craft?
IRMAK AKGUR (IA): The female gaze.
CC: I like that.
So, you’re from Izmir, Turkey. What or when was the moment you realized you wanted to study in America and continue your higher education here?
IA: My parents used to live here, so since I was a kid we came to California every Summer. I was pretty integrated from childhood. My parents lived in Louisiana for a really long time– I grew up eating Gumbo and stuff –a lot of little parts of my life were integrated in it. I remember in fifth grade we had to make a wish at graduation, and my wish was “I want to study at Harvard”. That wasn’t realistic after I was in high school, but even then I wanted to study in America.
I think because Turkey has been in a really bad downfall with conservative politics being so powerful right now, my parents really wanted me to study abroad, and now [they’re] so glad.
CC: Did you know that you wanted to study film and television when you were applying to universities?
IA: No, I was really into animation. I applied to a lot of animation schools. For NYU, I also applied to animation. But I literally couldn’t do animation.
She laughs.
CC: Like the act of animating?
IA: Yeah. So I literally applied with two films that I made for the application. And I was like “Great, I kind of like that” but then I was like whatever. And then when I started taking animation classes I was like “I think I just like watching animation and not animating”. And then when I was speaking to my animation professor about Intermediate and Advanced classes, he was like “Are you really into animation like that – I think you should try this class Experimental”.
He was more saying “I see something in you and I think it’s more experimental...” So I started my first experimental class and immediately fell in love with it. I don’t think I ever felt so seen by a craft…this is it for me. Looking back, I realized that was what I was trying to do with animation. And I didn’t know what experimental necessarily meant. Animation is such an [experimental] craft – even like Teletubbies or a basic kids show.
CC: I love Teletubbies. That was my very first Christmas present ever – Tinky Winky.
IA: I love Tinky Winky.
CC: I still have him to this day. And that makes sense – [early] filmmaking can tend to be production or technical heavy and all the different departments, and narrative filmmaking can also be quite restrictive in terms of Act Structure and how the audience absorbs the information. There’s some strict storytelling that’s effective but also with real art, it’s experimental and allows you to break the confines of the three-act structure. It doesn’t need to have it. Art is a feeling-
IA: Totally.
CC: A way of existence.
CC: I’m curious how you go about crafting your films – does it come from a feeling or a memory or something specific?
IA: I think it's just stuff that causes me a lot of emotions in my life. And I think because I wasn’t in the best relationships until I started therapy and started realizing a pattern and how I thought I deserved to be treated [a certain way]. Reflecting back on those relationships and how they made me feel were really intense. With my first film, that’s what I really tap into. I couldn't think about anything else at that time in my life.
CC: What year was that?
IA: January 2022. After that, that was a healing journey for me. I took a film class in Paris during that Summer of 2022, and that was when we started writing poems and I was like “I'm literally doing all these things about the same topic”. The film kind of happened like that too.
CC: Your film LIMERENCE – could you speak more about that inspiration and your process?
IA: I was listening to this song over and over again [during a bad relationship]. In Paris, I kept listening to it and I would literally sit in my dorm room, lay down, and just listen to it over and over and over again. It’s called “Limerence” and limerence means being obsessed with something or someone to the point of going crazy and there’s no reciprocation.
CC: So you were inspired by your own experience and that song, and all of it mixed together into your reality and what you feel: what determined the opening scene and how did you go about planning how you were going to visualize this feeling?
IA: I did not write the script until the day we were shooting.
A giggle-
IA: It was at my best friend's place in Germany. As soon as I saw [the house] I made out the images, drew them-
CC: So the shot list only?
IA: Yeah, and then what was going to be talked about. It first started with imagery, and I wrote it down with the dialogue.
CC: Did they have to remember the lines on the spot, or was it [improv]?
IA: We rehearsed everything at breakfast and shot later that day.
CC: Wow.
CC: Do you feel like your craft has shifted in correlation to your time in America, or do you find yourself even more driven and inspired by where you came from?
Irmak takes a breath, thinking...
IA: Being exposed to different sorts of films all over the world and in school made me really understand. It’s so easy to not be into film and remain only exposed to the most mainstream white-male director/writer films. I like being more exposed to female directors and writers, and their perspectives. Also, I have a big influence from Nuri Ceylan – he makes very slow, realistic conversation sort-of movies. I want to turn his movies into more female-gaze movies.
CC: So you’re currently editing the second film out of three short films. Can you tell us more – the logline of the second and third film…
IA: The second one: A young couple finds out they’re pregnant.
CC: And what’s the name?
IA: I don’t know yet – it was going to be RIBBON, but then my Sound Mixer bullied me into thinking that was too basic-
She laughs-
CC: Maybe RIBBON in Turkish?
IA: It’s in English.
CC: Okay, and the name of the third film?
IA: Nothing yet. I’m coming more into the realization that I want to portray female sexuality with minimal nudity. I’m proud of how I am making little films and finding my own voice. There’s this one Turkish film called MUSTANG. That movie has no nudity but it’s still very much an exploration of female sexuality at a young age. Petra Collins I also love. That’s definitely my next goal, I don’t know if I’m done with nudity-
CC: I mean you don’t have to decide now if you’re done or not.
IA: Yeah.
CC: I’m really excited to see all the work you create. You carry an intimate and raw type of honesty within our friendship which is something I really value, and I can see that in your vérité approach as well within your short films. You’re such a good example in my life and you make me a better person.
IA: Thank you, that means so much to me.
CC: Do you find inspiration online, or in mundane tasks?
IA: In my life, and journaling. Online, definitely with my photography. I also go to movies so much; that’s probably the number one thing I do, especially by myself. That’s huge -- the magic of cinema and coming out [the theater] with so many thoughts. You can put ideas and emotions into a film, that beautiful cycle of artmaking…
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CC: How would you describe your North Star?
IA: I want to make art in Turkey because that’s where my experience will most speak to as an audience, locations, everything. That’s what I’m most familiar with. [Nuri Ceylan] is probably the most famous director in Turkey, and I’m his number one fan. There’s [also] so many great female directors in Turkey, but they’re not as seen. My North Star is being able to be on [Ceylan’s] level and contribute to other female filmmakers in Turkey, either through a production company, distribution company, or a collective group so that we’re more heard. Also, having someone watch a film of mine and have some sort of emotion come out of it, some sort of rethinking of a woman’s role in society, whether that be their sexuality or anything else.
CC: That’s fantastic. And films are a way to trojan horse lessons, like fables. A secret infiltration into the male gaze to rewire their brains...
CC: If you had unlimited funding, how would you use it?
IA: A feature film in Turkey.
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CC: Your clothing for the craft?
IA: My thrifted [camouflage] cargo pants and Nike Air Max shoes.
CC: Des vêtements avec vérité? Favorite pieces you’re enjoying right now?
IA: Jorts. Diesel shoes. And I want to get more into button-down shirts.
Fin
