Turkish Documentary Filmmaker Visits Pittsburgh
Released by Robert Morris University for immediate release Date: 01 Mar 2006
Robert Morris University has invited Turkish filmmaker Nurdan Arca to Pittsburgh to present and discuss a program of her documentary films as part of the University’s celebration of Women’s History Month. This event is free to the public and will take place 7:00pm on March 29 at the Carnegie Museum of Art in the Museum of Art Theater.
Born in Antalya, Turkey, in 1948, Arca attended high school in Istanbul and Chicago, and then earned a degree in Economy from Robert College in Istanbul in 1970. She pursued doctoral studies on Regional Development at Brunel University in London, then returned to Turkey after the political coup in 1971, completing studies in Political Economy at Istanbul University in 1980.
Arca’s first film, Paintings of Longing, which she produced and directed in 1986, was a documentary about the painter Orhan Taylan, who was imprisoned from 1982 to 1996
for being a member of the Turkish Peace Association. In 1992 Arcan co-founded the independent documentary production company Ajans 21, with Taylan’s wife and fellow filmmaker, Melek Ulagay Taylan. Since then, Arca has produced and directed several documentaries about culture and archeology in Turkey.
This April, the prestigious annual Full Frame documentary festival in Durham, North Carolina, will honor Arca with a complete retrospective of her films, a recognition rarely bestowed by this respected festival.
This event is sponsored by the Center for Documentary Production & Study at Robert Morris University and by the Education Department of Carnegie Museum of Art. For information call Dr. James Seguin at 412-262-8469.
