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Threat Film at the Ottoman Bank Museum
 Under the theme, “Natural-Urban Environment/Architectural Texture,” the Museum is showing Swedish director Stefan Jarl’s documentary film, Threat, on Thursday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m. Following the screening, Greenpeace Mediterranean Office Executive Board Member, Melda Keskin conducts a discussion titled, “We, the Canaries in the Coal Mine.”
The documentary was shot a few weeks after the Chernobyl fallout, in Lapland, the place in Europe most affected by radiation. “Threat” refers, not so much to the poisoning of the region’s water, soil and animals as, to the attack on the Sami people’s right to live and on their way of life. Ironically, those most affected by post-Chernobyl radiation in Europe were the Sami people, who had chosen a life in close harmony with nature and had no use for electricity. The documentary describes this “threat” on their life-style and, in the long run, on everything still “untouched” in the environment.
The Museum’s film program is prepared in collaboration with the Documentary Filmmakers Association (BSB) and offers a film, complemented by a discussion, on a different theme every week Screenings are held free of charge but reservations must be made.
Threat
Director: Stefan Jarl / 1987
Running time: 72 min. |
Melda Keskin was born in 1962. After graduating from Robert College, she obtained a BA from the Faculty of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University in 1984 and an MA in the History of Architecture from the same university in 1989. In 2005, she enrolled in an accredited correspondence course at the Alternative Medicine College of Canada (AMCC). From 1987 to 1992, she worked in the architectural firms Giz Proje and Işık İnşaat. To earn the professional tourist guide degree issued by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, she worked as an English-speaking guide both in Anatolia and in Istanbul. She has translated books and articles and participated in voluntary environmental projects with the Turkish Chamber of Architects, taken part in a pilot study on the recycling of paper and worked with Nükleer Karşıtı Platform [Anti-Nuclear Platform] and Ekolojik Eylem Grubu [Ecological Action Group]. From 1992 to 2004, she worked with Greenpeace, during which time she campaigned againts nuclear energy, phosphate fuels, and climate change and for energy efficiency, solar, wind and other renewable fuels. In 2003, she backed Greenpeace’s anti-nuclear and anti-war campaigns, from October 2003 to April 2004, she served as coordinator for the Greenpeace Energy Campaign, and in August and September 2005, was media and communications officer for the Greenpeace Peaceful Energy Tour. In October 2005, Melda Keskin became a member of the Greenpeace Mediterranean Office Executive Board. She currently translates from Turkish to English and, for the past 8 years, has produced and presented the program Yeşilin Rengi, [“The Color of Green”], for Açık Radyo. |
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Documentary Filmmakers Association (BSB) started out as a civil platform and began its structuring process following the National Conference held in March 1997. Today it continues its activities as an association with professional status, certified by the Ministry of Culture. Starting with Istanbul, Ankara, Eskisehir and Izmir, BSB is in contact with documentary filmmakers throughout Turkey. Convinced that civil culture is crucial in designing better social futures and filling the blanks of collective social memory, the Documentary Filmmakers Association considers these functions complementary to the creative aspect of documentary filmmaking. BSB creates and promotes screening spaces other than television, organizes and participates in film festivals all over Turkey and offers film screenings with discussions, especially in universities. |
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