News

Every few years, the internet remembers the existence of Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam, a brazen attempt to loosely remake Star Wars after a military coup d’état in Turkey led to the Turkish film board clamping down on Western blockbusters entering the country.

Turkish Star Wars first joined the compelling world of low-budget blockbuster rip-offs back in 1982, when the film’s director, Çetin Inanç, who had previously been churning out erotica, decided it was an ideal time to start making propaganda and action films instead. Thus, Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam (aka The Man Who Saved the World) was born, and became a homegrown hit.

Swirling science-fiction, fantasy, martial arts, adventure and superhero genres together, the beloved movie starred Cüneyt Arkın and utilized footage, music and sound effects not just from Star Wars, but from Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica and Raiders of the Lost Ark, too – all completely unauthorized. The result was a...

It is the same thing every year. We leave the previous Fantasia International Film Festival and think, 'There is no way that they're going to be able to top this year'. Then we wait with baited breath to see what they have been able to wrangle together this year and are once again blown away by the cornucopia of fantastic cinema goodness they are going to share with us.    With an already stellar first wave of films announced they have added to this year's volley with new titles like Jang Hoon's A Taxi Driver set to close the festival. Lifetime Achievement Awards will be given to Turkish actor CÜNEYT Arkin (Turkish Star Wars) and luchador Mil Máscaras. I saw Mil Máscaras in Mexico a...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

If we’re to believe documentarian Cem Kaya, 70% of today’s Hollywood output is either a remake, sequel, or reboot. We live in a culture where “original” ideas aren’t getting big studio budgets, because smart money is made by playing off of people’s nostalgic love. Why gamble on uncertainty when you can just reconfigure old stories for a new audience? It’s a simple business practice, and while most American film journalists have only been complaining about this phenomenon for the last decade or so, Remake, Remix, Rip-Off proves that this business model has been around far longer than we knew, in the distant, movie-obsessed land of Turkey.

During the 70s and 80s, Turkey’s film industry (Yeşilçam) was alive and thriving, but their methods were not of today’s Hollywood standards. Given an absolute lack of Turkish copyright laws, filmmakers would rip-off American movies with absolutely no repercussions.