PERİ BAYAV

İzmir-   Environmental problems are on rising in our country. This gradually drives us away from the idea of a more livable world. But despite all this, I think we need more studies that remind us that there is hope; because it is still possible to see that very important ecological movements have emerged despite all attacks on every part of our lives.

A short film called, “Bilanço” directed by Murat Emek Özkan is a film telling how ambition can destroy people and nature. We talk to women working in the team of the short film about the ecological struggle and how life is difficult for being a woman. 

Hayriye Çam, a student of Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Department Of Performing Arts, is the only actress in “Bilanço” short film. Hayriye has performed in a short film for the first time.  The film is about nature and people's ambitions. 

“I had difficulties to perform because it was difficult to protect the balance between ambition and nature, to criticize the balance from the standpoint of humanity. But the film is about people and I performed a female character. I think I took part in a beautiful project,” says Hayriye.

How does ambition destroy people and nature?

Emphasizing that our struggle with life begins as soon as we are born, Hayriye says that our parents taught us how we should have an upright stance. “We were told ‘you should stand upright, don’t be oppressed but oppress’ for this reason, we become unable to understand each other,” Hayriye says that this feeling turns into ambition. Hayriye explains how ambition destroys people and nature as follows;

“Ambition is a good thing if people use it for a good reason. But if ambition destroys a living creature, an animal, a plant, the sense of power inside you can turn into a state-power system. This then spreads around the world and a bad world is formed. The character of Zeynep in our short film called “Bilanço” is actually a balance. She is the only female character in the film. She has powers and things she wants to do. She has a stance against her husband. She wants to resist her husband. She loves but she also wants to breathe and resist the disgusting order of the world. She has a responsibility to both her husband and child. Even when she goes to work, she has to be friendly to the people there; because the wife of the main character has to always be like this. She has a responsibility to everyone. But she always asks herself; what about the responsibility to herself? Zeynep is a character looking for this answer but never finding the answer. I had difficulties to perform this character because there were similarities and differences between me and her. But I still think performing that character was enjoyable.”

Hayriye states that women are living creatures who can be in the center of everything by using their strong identities, stances, feelings, mind, and soul. “Women in Turkey even all around the world face violence and many other pressures. Women already have power and we need to protect it. We try to show ourselves in art. I think men and women are equal. I want to tell women to never lose their hope. We should believe in ourselves, we already have a power inside us. We should show this power at every opportunity.”

Begüm Ateş, a student at Ege University, Department of Art History, has worked on different branches of art. She worked as a production assistant for the short film. 

“Because we have concerns about life”

“Maybe it has been pushed into the background, but it was the time when the Kaz Mountains were on the agenda. The ecological struggle is an issue that is always on our agenda. It is a very serious struggle for nature; because we have concerns about life. We are people who really take life very seriously. We don't want a word, a line, or a note to disappear from our lives. As they disappear, we also disappear. When the trees in the Gezi Park were wanted to be cut down, we were out of breath. When a gold mining project was tried to be carried out on Kaz Mountains, we lost something inside ourselves. “Bilanço” is a project that focuses on the environmental struggle that reveals the companies-state relationship.”

“Being a woman means being born illegal”

Talking about the number of femicide in Turkey, Begüm emphasizes that being a woman means being born illegal. Begüm states that women are stillborn and if we do not do anything to hold on to life, women can face death.

“I think we live by chance. We could have been in the place of Ceren Özdemir, Münevver Karabulut, or Emine Bulut (The women killed in Turkey). The incidents we face during our lives damage our psychology. When we walk, we worry if someone follows us. Unfortunately, we struggle for increasing our lifetime each day. We should do everything to increase our lifetime. A woman can do what everyone says you can't do; because I feel like we are really strong. We are here. I think we should spread self-defense throughout our lives”

Lale Kurbanova, a 3rd-year student of Ege University Radio Television and Cinema Department, also worked for the film. 

“At that time, forest fires were everywhere as if they were organized collectively. Everything, human psychology, nature, and ecosystem were destroyed,” says Lale and she calls on women; “Women shouldn’t be afraid of walking down the streets at night. Let's not look back, let's look ahead.”

Nejla Özge Alban, a 3rd-year student of Ege University Radio Television and Cinema Department also worked as a production assistant for the short film. 

“Bilanço is a short film about how the supranational system and local companies destroy nature. Governments and companies are now doing it more openly. We worked on a film looking at this.”