Remake, Remix, Rip-Off - how the Turkish cinema improvised a whole new way of making films

Remake, Remix, Rip-Off is an entertaining and unexpectedly involving documentary about Turkish pop cinema from the 1950s to the 1990s.  This film industry was underfunded and heavily censored, but got by on improvisation and energy to try entertain the Turkish masses.

The industry at its peak churned out hundreds of films, but with only 3 scriptwriters. It created huge domestic stars, but ones who then had to do their own dangerous stunts (one tale was told by a leading action star about when he got caught on a wire between two tall buildings, 30 feet up, when they realised that no-one had brought a safety net). Films were made in a week or two, usually with only one take to save on limited film stock.

Audiences flocked to huge and sold-out screens and the industry later became sustained by video exports to the Turkish diaspora, particularly in Germany.  But a mixture of factors gradually shut the industry down and the centrepiece cinema in Istanbul was recently demolished to make way for new developments, despite angry protests. The factors that caused the demise included television, increasing government censorship and a bizarre trend in which distributors and cinema owners would insert clips from porn films into even family features to try boost audience numbers.

Much of the film is very funny, and one of the most amusing parts was how filmmakers took advantage of the lack of copyright laws to borrow from popular Hollywood films.  This was not just by stealing plots and dialogue (well, that wouldn't  be very different from parts of the Hollywood industry). One director had a crew member steal prints of Star Wars from a cinema, and cut the special effects scenes to paste direct into his own sci-fi adventure epic. Another showed off his collection of soundtrack LPs, noting how a different film's score was suitable for car chases, or romance or fight scenes. Not Blade Runner though, he explained how he couldn't find a use for that score....

Directed Cem Kaya cleverly edits together clips and interviews for maximum comic effect but there is also genuine affection for these very inventive directors, which shines through.  And there is pathos too, as many of these directors had to choose pure, populist and cheaply made entertainment over the films they dreamed of making, partly because of the oppressive censorship and also because of the lack of financing and stable income.

Although intrigued by the concept of Remake, Remix, Rip-Off, I was not expecting it to be so interesting and so funny. It really was a joy to have the door opened on a very different film industry.