1 Acknowledgements: This work in this article was supported by Galatasaray University research funding [grant number 19.300.007]. I am grateful for this opportunity.

2 Verses from the poem “The Song of İstanbul” (1945) by the Turkish poet Orhan Veli, in: I, Orhan Veli, translated from Turkish by Murat Nemet-Nejat, Hanging Loose Press, New York, 1989.

3 Tunç, Ertan, Türk Sinemasının Ekonomik Yapısı (1896–2005), Doruk Yayımcılık, İstanbul, 2012, p. 31.

4 Scognamillo, Giovanni, Cadde-i Kebir’de Sinema, Agora Kitaplığı, İstanbul, 2008, p. 13.

5 Until it closed in 2009, the Emek Theater was, in all its splendor, the home of the İstanbul International Film Festival. In the so-called “renovation“ project of the Cercle d’Orient building, the historic theater was to be relocated to the fourth floor of an eight-theater multiplex. Despite a number of protests against the project (which increased in intensity in early 2013 when the whole building was surrounded by a protective cage), despite all of the criticism from filmmakers, writers, journalists and artists, despite all of the international support backing the movement, the Emek Theater was demolished on May 20, 2013. The legal battle over the fate of the cinema had not yet been completed. During one of the last protests that took place on April 7, 2013, law enforcement responded with tear gas and water hoses. Filmmaker Costa-Gavras, guest of honor at the İstanbul International Film Festival that year, was also in the crowd. A month and a half after the last demonstrations to save the Emek took place, the Gezi Park protests began.

6 Tunç, Ertan, op. cit., p. 49. It should be noted that Tunç collected data on the number of cinemas and audience members in Turkey up until 1990 in not only books on cinema, but also in reports and documents produced by consulates, official government representatives and foreign businesses around that time. Nevertheless, the accuracy of such figures is always doubtful and occasionally statistics contradict one another.

7 Akçura, Gökhan and Dert Ortağım Benim, in G. Akçura & M. Turan (ed.s), Yüzyıllık Aşk. Türkiye’de Sinema ve Seyirci İlişkisi (pp. 113–119), İstanbul Modern, İstanbul, 2014, p. 113.

8 Open-air cinemas were referred to as “summer cinemas.” According to Evren, there were 20 such theaters in İstanbul in 1949, 103 such theaters in 1958, 122 in 1960, 143 in 1964, 159 in 1966, 184 in 1967 and 188 in 1969. Evren, Burçak, Eski İstanbul Sinemaları. Düş Şatoları, AD Yayıncılık AŞ, İstanbul, pp. 116-118.

9 Tül Akbal, Zeynep, İstanbul’un Sinema Macerası, İstanbul, No. 10, 1994, p. 53.

10 Tunç, Ertan, op. cit., p. 75–76.

11 Idem, p. 103.

12 As shown below, for the first time since 1989 the total number of cinema spectators in Turkey exceeded 50 million in 2013. Erkılıç, Hakan, Türk Sinemasının Ekonomik Yapısı ve Bu Yapının Sinemamıza Etkileri (unpublished PhD thesis for a Doctorate of Arts), under the direction of Alev İdrisoğlu, Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, 2003, p. 116.

13 The findings cited here are those that Akbulut himself presented on 5/10/2014 at the 15^th “New Directions in Turkish Film Studies” conference hosted by Kadir Has University.

14 It is clear that the “inter-classism” that exists in cinemas does not outright exist. Even if cinemas are more open to all kinds of social groups in comparison to other performance venues (such as playhouses and opera halls, which are inevitably more expensive), there is always a divide between city center cinemas and village center cinemas, between theaters that only project Turkish films and those that project international films. The focus on the “inter-classism” of cinemas recounted by the collective memory of audiences can thus be attributed instead to nostalgia, to a sense of a loss of community (lost throughout the 1980’s) that is found in most oral history research.

15 The findings cited here are those that Altıntaş herself presented on 5/10/2014 at the 15^th “New Directions in Turkish Film Studies” conference hosted by Kadir Has University.

16 Uğur Tanrıöver, Hülya, “Le cinéma turc : analyse d’un succès artistique et commercial,” in J. Marcou, & F. Türkmen (eds), Vingt ans de changement en Turquie (1992-2012) (pp. 123-142), L’Harmattan, Paris, 2013, p. 125.

17 Erkılıç, Hakan, op. cit., p. 124.

18 Tunç, Ertan, op. cit., p. 127.

19 Idem, p. 142.

20 The liberal economic model implemented by the Özal government following the coup d’état opened the door for major distributors who wanted to expand into the Turkish market. As part of a series of measures taken in order to integrate Turkey into the global economy, Warner Brothers entered the Turkish video market in 1987 and then the film distribution market in 1989. That same year, UIP also entered the Turkish film market. During the 1990’s, the first private television stations were established in the country, and Turkey became a member of Eurimages. Uğur Tanrıöver, Hülya, op. cit., p. 127.

21 Idem, pp. 125–126.

22 Tunç, Ertan, op. cit., p. 186.

23 Follows, Stephen, “Genre trends in global film production,” published on 2/12/2018 on the website https://stephenfollows.com/.

24 Due to a lack of independent public institutions that collect information pertaining to cinema, Boxofficeturkiye.com was created in 2008 by industry professional Tolga Akıncı. The website has proven to be the most useful database for information within the field. For the purposes of this article, all of the data related to the Turkish film industry has for the most part been taken from this site.

25 Talavera Milla, Julio, “Film production in Europe. Production volume, co-production and worldwide circulation,” European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg, 2017.

26 The official provider to the European Audiovisual Observatory for data on Turkish films, Antrakt is a private, film market intelligence company.

27 Creton, Laurent, “Modes de consommation et enjeux de la diffusion,” G. Cladel, K. Feigelson, J.-M. Gévaudan, C. Landais & D. Sauvaget (eds), Le cinéma dans la cité (pp. 69-82), Éditions du Félin, Paris, 2001, p. 80.

28 Atay, Reyhan, “L’âge d’or des séries turques dans le monde,” published on 2/8/2018 on the website http://tvmag.lefigaro.fr.

29 Uğur Tanrıöver, Hülya, op. cit., p. 129.

30 Follows, Stephen, “Are cinema box-office takings rising or falling?,” published on 1/29/2018 on the website https://stephenfollows.com/.

31 Forest, Claude, “Les films, stratégie de l’offre,” in G. ladel, K. Feigelson, J.-M. Gévaudan, C. Landais, & D. Sauvaget (eds), Le cinéma dans la cité (pp. 57-68), Éditions du Félin, Paris, 2001, p. 57.

32 Pinto, Aurélie, Les salles de cinéma d’art et essai : Sociologie d’un label culturel entre marché et politique publique (Unpublished PhD thesis in sociology), under the direction of Frédéric Lebaron, University of Picardie Jules Verne, 2012, p. 252.

33 Casetti, Francesco, “The Last Supper in Piazza della Scala,” Cinéma&Cie, 11, 2008, pp. 8–9.

34 Rosenbaum, Jonathan, Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2010.

35 Ethis, Emmanuel, “Le cinéma, cet art subtil du rendez-vous,” Communication et langages, 154, 2007, p. 18.