Hrant Dink immortalized in animation

Monday, March 28, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Director Hüseyin Karabey and visual artist Aksel Zeydan Göz have concentrated on Rakel Dink's voice in an animated film. ‘After Indira Gandhi, Rakel Dink is the person who has affected me most with her attitude,’ Karabey says. ‘I witnessed the pain that sometimes appears, sometimes is lost in the film. In these figures and faces I have concentrated on Rakel's voice,'Göz says

Director Hüseyin Karabey, who adapted into animation the day of Dink's funeral, concentrated on the voice of Dink's wife Rakel Dink, reading a letter to him.

Rakel Dink's mournful voice is set to echo out from an animated film titled “Hiçbir Karanlık Unutturamaz” (No darkness will cause us to forget).

In recent years Hüseyin Karabey has been mentioned often with successful films. Now he has adapted into animation the funeral day of assassinated Agos Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink, during which millions of people rushed to the streets.

Visual artist Aksel Zeydan Göz provided support to Karabey in adapting the animation film to the screen. It is a nine-minute, black-and-white short film in which a letter written by Dink’s wife Rakel Dink saddens viewers while painful faces of Rakel Dink and her children sometimes appear and disappear in black-and-white strips.

Speaking to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, Karabey explained why he had chosen the animation technique. “In recent years, the documentary film genre has pushed the limits of reality. I have seen that animation was also included in documentary. This interesting technique made me excited and I decided to make this film with the animation technique. I hope this film will raise awareness among young generations. I hope that I can make it happen, because they don’t know about the pain of this land. History will repeat itself if we forget it or make it forgotten.”

Göz, who adapted the film to the silver screen using the animation technique, said: “This film, which we have made for the historical letter written by Rakel Dink, will give important messages to viewers in the future. We have tried to show the atmosphere of the funeral day in black-and-white.”

The film “Hiçbir Karanlık Unutturamaz” will be screened as part of the 30th International Istanbul Film Festival that will begin on April 2 and continue until April 17. Later, the film will meet viewers in Switzerland, Europe and the U.S.

Karabey’s and Dink’s fathers were friends

The Karabey and Dink families have a long history together. Their fathers were friends. Both were born in Turkey’s eastern city of Malatya and both were tailors – Karabey's father was an apprentice to Hrant’s father.

Armenians from Malatya in the 1950s dispersed to different countries, said Karabey. "My father is 73 years old, but despite his age he still thinks that one day will find his childhood friends, he still hasn’t lost hope.” Hrant was killed openly, Karabey said. “I protested the murder, I was very angry when going to the funeral. I was not the only person who had this anger but thousands of people at the funeral had the same feeling, too. When Rakel read her letter with her unique voice, it jolted us out of our anger. I am sure that if Rakel had not read that letter, the anger of thousands of people might have transformed into violence. The letter calmed us down."

“I suddenly stood face to face with my 73-year-old father in the crowd and was shocked,” said Karabey. “After the 1980 military coup my father did not join any protests. He turned to my face that day and was crying, and said that he found himself in this flood of people."

Pain in animation

“I wanted to immortalize Rakel Dink's moving letter and her voice,” said Karabey. “After Indira Ghandi, Rakel Dink is the person who has affected me most. Although she lost her lover and suffered enormous pain, she was seeking in that letter divine retribution even for the one who pulled the trigger.”

The film is subtitled in English, but Karabey said viewers did not need subtitles because Rakel had such a universal voice when reading that letter. “Göz and I decided to make the film using the animation technique. Because of this, we preferred black and white instead of color. The faces in the film are so unspecific. Because we wanted to concentrate on Rakel’s voice only.”

Zeydan said they worked six months to adapt the film into animation, adding that he tried to feel the pain of Rakel and her children Sera, Arat and Delal while drawing them. “‘I witnessed the pain that sometimes appears, sometimes is lost in the film. In these figures and faces I concentrated on Rakel's voice.”