A talkshow focused on the figure of the Djinn in Turkish horrorfilms, including a keynote lecture by Dr. Cüneyt Çakırlar, music by Mehmet Polat, a short film screening and a talk with directors Can Evrenol and Utku Uçar.
Cüneyt Çakırlar’s keynote lecture ‘Djinns as transformative otherness – toxic kinship in postmillennial Turkish horror film’ will explore the emergence of Turkish Djinn-themed horror films such as the Dabbe (2006-2015) and Siccin (2014-2024) series. Having completed a research project on the global revival of folk horror, funded by the British Academy, Çakırlar will discuss how these Djinn horror films’ engagement with religion and folklore captures the shifting dynamics of gender, nation, and family in contemporary Turkey.
After the lecture, we will screen Can Evrenol’s short film Haunted by Al Karisi the Childbirth Djinn (2018), followed by a talk with Çakırlar, Evrenol and director Utku Uçar (Hüddam). The different sections of the programme will be musically interwoven by Dutch-Turkish Ud-player Mehmet Polat.
This event is a collaboration between Imagine, the Yunus Emre Instituut Amsterdam and Café Belcampo.
