Turkey-wood

It was just your average night talking about transvestites and movies with German/Iranian film critic Amin Farzanefar and the talented Govinda Van Maele when the two subjects magically became one.

Amin, a veteran of Middle Eastern cinema and transvestites recounted his experience of meeting the Turkish 'Rambo' in a tranny bar in Istanbul. He went on to describe the wave of Hollywood movies that were remade by impoverished Turkish filmmakers from the 1970's onwards.

I'd heard of Bollywood naturally and of course Nollywood and even bizarrely Taliwood but had never so far heard of the Turkish Hollywood from ever hence to be called: Turkeywood.

It seems the movement was started after the success of a film appropriately titled 'Hope' made in earnest by a young and ambitious Turkish actor named Yilmaz Güney. The film's success saw a Turkish New Wave take off which saw the hometown industry boom, producing over three hundred pictures a year at it's peak.

As every savvy film producer knows what audiences really want is not films called 'Hope' that deal with 'issues'. What audiences really want is straight up action. And the more money minded of this Turkish new wave knew exactly where to get it: Hollywood.

Beginning with the 1971 remake of The Wizard of Oz, the Turkeywood classics really began to hit their prime at the same time as the American Blockbusters became ever bigger at the box office.

Lacking the resources of the real Hollywood however, as good as Star Wars, Superman and ET were, the Turkish versions were bad. Really really bad.

Made for nothing and with plots only loosely approximately a story, the Turkish Hollywood movies, celebrated at their time in Turkey but buried internationally have recently become objects of fascination and reverie that fill the late night schedules of obscure film festivals and trash programming around the world, gaining a cult following among film nerds and trashaholics everywhere

Here's some of the Youtube gems that are out there...be sure to delve further into the world of Turkeywood and check out the youtube mashups as well...

Rambo


Superman



Batman



ET