Turkish Cinema Research Project (TSA)

Only a year after its birth, at 1896, cinema came to the land of Ottoman Empire. However, attempts to preserve and protect the sources and earliest records of Turkish cinema and the studies on history of Turkish cinema began at a very late date and access to these few and scattered records had been limited. At the years following, a systematic, blanket study encompassing each and every branch of Turkish cinema was also beyond reach.  Despite all kinds of difficulties, it is of utmost importance to determine and evaluate the hundred-year corpus of Turkish Cinema. In accordance with this necessity, The Turkish Cinema Research Project (TSA), conducted by The Foundation for Sciences and Arts, is a systematic, blanket project to determine, gather, evaluate and classify all the films, people, books, magazines, journals, interviews, and theses produced under the umbrella of the Turkish cinema, in relation with each other.

At the end of the project, brief identifying information about each material gathered will be shared online at TSA database on a web portal which also will keep abreast of current events of Turkish cinema. Along with the website and the database, TSA Archive Unit will also be established.

TSA project is deemed qualified for İstanbul Development Agency’s “For development of Creative industries – non-profit” financial support program (2012 – 2^nd term). The project started on 1 September 2013 and is being conducted in joint partnership with City University of Istanbul. Ministry of Culture and Tourism, General Directorate of Cinema is also supporting the project by permitting the usage of its archives.

Within the project, the Turkish Cinema Research team of thirteen researchers is built along with an advisory board consisting of eminent academicians, writers and directors among whom Abdülhamit Kırmızı, Burçak Evren, Giovanni Scognamillo, Gökhan Yorgancıgil, Hasanali Yıldırım, İhsan Kabil, Peyami Çelikcan, Yalçın Yelence can be named.