This year's Ünlü Muhabbet guest, comedian Cem Yılmaz, drew the most excited Bilkent crowd yet at the Faculty of Music and Performing Arts Concert Hall on Monday, December 21. The Ünlü Muhabbet association of Bilkent University's Engineering Society aims to let Bilkent students meet with well-known figures in Turkey. Singers and songwriters such as Mehmet Yaşar Günaçgün and Göksel Demirpençe were last year's guests. This year demand was so high that the Engineer Society could only invite a limited number of students to the event. Cinevision was set up in order to give more people a chance to watch Cem Yılmaz.
The hall was so crowded the event began on hour late. Yılmaz began his talk with a note on how Bilkent University is a noteworthy institution whose special students will determine the future of our country. He also said how the students here are lucky to be a part of Bilkent University, telling them to appreciate their time here because of the opportunities this school provides. Yılmaz also shared his memories and experiences related to his career and chatted with university students.
"The school life is priceless," Yılmaz said. "It is one of the most useful periods of time for one's social life and self-improvement."
Yılmaz went on to answer students' questions. The audience, especially students in the International Relations department, could not escape from Yılmaz's sense of humor. Yılmaz carried on talking about the issue of curriculum in foreign language universities, underlining the importance of self-expression: Self-expression is not only a difficult issue in a foreign language, but also in one's native tongue as well. Therefore, Yılmaz states that sometimes giving education in a foreign language can be problematic for the students who are trying to learn from their instructors, as well as the instructors who are trying to teach the students.
Yılmaz then gave a uniquely interactive stand-up performance, where the audience proved very active and unafraid of being picked on during jokes.
Here are some questions that students asked Cem Yılmaz:
My opinion is that “Hokkabaz” is your most successful movie. The movies called “Hokkabaz” and “Herşey Çok Güzel Olacak,” whose genres are drama, are close to the works of European cinema. However, after comedy films of yours such as “G.O.R.A” and “A.R.O.G” came out, it looks like you keep making comedy movies, devaluing your previous dramatic works. Is the reason the revenue that is earned from the box office? Moreover, would you like to make such dramas again?
CY: Actually, I do not like labeling the type of movie I make. Movies like Hokkabaz and “Herşey Çok Güzel Olacak” need literature, and their intentions are much more serious.
I agree those kinds of movies are fascinating compared to “G.O.R.A” and “A.R.O.G,” but again as I said, it is as demanding as it is fascinating. Besides, “Yahşi Batı” is a movie that we can place in between those comedies and dramas. Talking about the box office, I can say it is risky because no one knows what will happen after the box office debut. Thinking of people who prefer to watch comedies, the audience who watches both Turkish comedy and European cinema is the minority. What is interesting is that the one who is willing to see “G.O.R.A” does not want to see “Hokkabaz,” even though their scripts are both my scripts. So dramatic films can be shot as long as we have the support of the audience. Otherwise, if we fail in the box office, this failure might put those future projects in trouble. However, do not get me wrong. It does not mean that shooting a good movie means there is need for huge financial support. “Vavien” in this concern can be a good example, where the screenplay was written by Engin Günaydın.
Trailers of “Hokkabaz,” “G.O.R.A,” and “A.R.O.G” were broadcasted on TV and even on the News so many times. How come we do not encounter with any trailer of “Yahşi Batı” on TV?
CY: What is so important about broadcasting the trailers is the fact of letting people know the movie is coming soon. The rest goes to the role of mass media. Giving a fight on TV for introducing the movie seems to me a desperate struggle for advertisement. You cannot force people to go see your movie.
What is your reason for shooting films with almost the same cast?
CY: I do believe we do a great job with our cast even if they are the same people that I work with most of the time. This close relationship motivates everybody to do their best, which makes the cast more than just a crew. This must be the key of our successes. Besides, I am not familiar with other actors in the sector. I get along well with this cast as long as we produce more and more great work.
What is the best thing you remember from when you were in school? Furthermore, what was distracting for you, when you were school?
 CY: I went to school with a great enthusiasm for the sake of being social, and I was so into that notion of solidarity of the social environment, of meeting different people. Unfortunately, after I graduated from high school and went up to university, things changed. Drawing caricatures especially took up much of my time, so much that it started to keep me from going to school. Nevertheless, school means to me a rich resource that helped me to observe people. What was so distracting in school were the homework deadlines because it was always so challenging. Later on, I understood this is how life works and school was a place that prepares people for it.
In what ways are acting in a movie and doing stand-up on the stage different?
CY: While acting, there control in the movie-making process. You need to do what is written on the script and you need to cooperate with other actors unlike what is done in stand-up. Additionally, there is a close friendship on the backstage of the movie. However, you are on your own when you are doing stand-up. This performance is purely individual. However, as long as the script is yours, you can improvise to some level, though this also has to have its own limit.
Would you perform a stand-up show on Spring Fest at Bilkent University?
CY: I would sincerely organize a stand-up show for you without any charge or come to Spring Fest just to have fun-but definitely not to just do a stand-up show. Obviously, it will not be appropriate to do a stand-up show in the middle of the Spring Fest, because it just does not fit into my way of routine. I tried it a couple times and experienced undesirable circumstances that made me unhappy.
Meanwhile you just performed the vocals for an animated character. Do you have future projects in the animation business?
CY: Unfortunately, I don't. Turkish animation in the animation industry, but that does not mean there are no future projects concerning animation. I would definitely like to see those kinds of projects become realized. On the other hand, the animation business is enormously expensive, especially that in the United States, which reserves a budget between thirty and forty million dollars. Considering this, there is not enough money to make an animation movie in Turkey. Even though there are people who have good intentions to make something to establish an animation market in Turkey, the audience is not willing to respond to those people. However, I still insist, I will gratefully accept an animation project to vocalize, if it is proposed to me.
Have you ever thought of writing the script of a play?
CY: I am a stranger to the discipline of theater, because I am not trained in that branch. I have respect for theatre and those who work hard on it. It would be disrespectful to those who deal with theater and inappropriate for me to work on the theatre, because it has its own artists and it is something very different from what I am used to working on. I believe everyone has to follow his own way, taking into account their own profession.
BY ERDOĞAN GÖK (COMD/V)
Bilkent News
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