Cinema of Turkey
Cinema of Turkey or Turkish cinema (also formerly known as Yeşilçam, which literally means Green Pine in Turkish), (Turkish pronunciation: [ˈjeʃiltʃam]) or Türk sineması refers to the Turkish film art and industry. It is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, Turkish expatriates across Europe, Balkans & Eastern Europe, also more recently prospering in the Arab world and to a lesser extent, the rest of the world.
| Cinema of Turkey | |
|---|---|
Maxim Night Club, previously Cinemajik Movie Theater in Taksim, Istanbul. | |
| No. of screens | 2,826 (2019) |
| • Per capita | 3.32 per 100,000 (2019) |
| Main distributors | CGV Mars Distribution 50.83% UIP 22.52% TME Films 14.43% P-inema 5.37% |
| Produced feature films (2012) | |
| Total | 61 |
| Number of admissions (2012) | |
| Total | 43,935,763 |
| • Per capita | 0.8 (2016) |
| National films | 20,487,220 (47.0%) |
| Gross box office (2012) | |
| Total | $234 million |
| National films | $109 million (46.6%) |
| Part of a series on the |
| Culture of Turkey |
|---|
| Languages |
| Mythology and Folklore |
| Cuisine |
| Festivals |
| Religion |
| Art |
| Literature |
The first film exhibited in the Ottoman Empire was the Lumière Brothers' 1895 film, L'Arrivée d'un train en gare de La Ciotat, which was shown in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) in 1896. The Weavers (1905), by the Manaki brothers, was the first film made in the Ottoman Empire.
The earliest surviving film made in what is present-day Turkey was a documentary entitled Ayastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı (Demolition of the Russian Monument at San Stefano), directed by Fuat Uzkınay and completed in 1914. The first narrative film, Sedat Simavi's The Spy, was released in 1917. Turkey's first sound film was shown in 1931.