Back	Highlights from the Ottoman Bank Museum This June, the Ottoman Bank Museum, introduces new topics in both its Economic History Lectures and its Istanbul Lectures series and presents another Making of Modern Turkey Seminar. The Museum's movie theater will also be screening 4 new films throughout the month, on the theme, "Where is Civilization Taking Us?" All 4 are controversial films that won numerous awards at the time of their initial release, and provide in-depth exploration of the many-sided aspects to conservation issues. Voyvoda Street / Economic History Lectures Prof. Seyfettin Gürsel, from the School of Economic and Administrative Sciences at Galatasaray University, will be our guest speaker at the Economic History Lectures on Wednesday, June 2, 2004, at 6:30 p.m. Gürsel will give us a macro-economist's analysis of Turkish Economy During the Great Depression, explaining that the Depression, which struck hard at capitalist countries in the beginning of the 1930s, left Turkey relatively unscathed. "In the industrialized West, both economic output and prices plummeted while unemployment rose to unprecedented heights," he says. "But when we examine to what extent the economic mechanisms and processes which triggered the slump in the Western world existed in Turkey, we are left face to face with quite a different picture." Voyvoda Street / Istanbul Lectures Foremost Turkish orchestra conductor, Cem Mansur, will be joining us at the Istanbul Lectures, this June, with a presentation entitled, "Listening to the World from Istanbul". According to Mansur, artists instinctively question the historical and social framework of the society they live and work in. He suggests that for the musician, polyphonic music is the key to experiencing the world; it is also the most accurate witness to its time. The lecture is scheduled for Wednesday, June 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The Making of Modern Turkey Seminars Prof. Asım Karaömerlioğlu, from the Atatürk Institute of Modern Turkish History at Boğaziçi University, will be our guest speaker at the Making of Modern Turkey Seminars, on Saturday, June 19, at 2:30 p.m. Films at the Ottoman Bank Museum / Where is Civilization Taking Us?... Environmental issues are the common theme of the 4 films showing at the Ottoman Bank Museum movie theater this June. Where the Green Ants Dream, La Plante Humaine (The Human Plant), Synthetic Pleasures and the China Syndrome, all provide in-depth exploration of the many-sided aspects to conservation issues. The Museum's movie theater, open to the public since January 2, 2004, has a seating capacity of 46. The film program is prepared in collaboration with TÜRSAK (the Turkish Cinema and Audiovisual Cultural Foundation). Screenings are at 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays and at 2:30 and 6.30 p.m. on Saturdays. Tickets cost: 4 million TL full, 2 million TL discounted and can be obtained at the Museum. Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) German director Werner Herzog has achieved cult status as one of today's most compelling and original indie film-makers. In this unusual Aboriginal drama, he once again shows his affinity for ecological themes with philosophical undertones. When an Australian mining company's bulldozers want to dig up an Aboriginal tribe's sacred land - (the place "where the green ants dream") - the Aborigines stand firm againts them. La Plante Humaine (The Human Plant) (1996) The work of a veteran of the world of animation cinema, Pierre Hebert, the film combines animation with live action to tell the story of a day in the life of a retired librarian. Widowed and living alone, he spends his time walking and feeding his dog, watering the plants on his wife's grave, or at home, where the omnipresent telivision assaults him with images he can't escape. News reports, cooking shows, documentaries, his mind is teeming with media dreams and nightmares he tries to make some sense out of... Synthetic Pleasures (1996) The premise of this documentary film by Iara Lee, is that man now has the power to transform and control his surroundings through virtual reality or other artificial realities. The evolution of advanced 21st century technologies, and their impact on culture, is witnessed through scenes from all over the world, and especially Japan, where some of the strangest synthetic environments can be found; large indoor artificial beaches with waves just right for surfing, ski slopes with perfect powder snow...Virtual reality has replaced the real thing... The China Syndrome (1979) James Bridges wrote and directed this landmark thriller about the dangers of nuclear power, in 1979. Kimberly Wells, a plucky reporter, (played by Jane Fonda), discovers what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant in Southern California. The title refers to the possibility of a melt-down in a nuclear reactor setting off an uncontrollable fire which could burn all the way to China...