Friday, March 8, 2019

Pandora's Box, starring Louise Brooks, to show in Istanbul, Turkey on March 10

The Kundura Cinema in Istanbul, Turkey will screen the internationally acclaimed Louise Brooks' film, Pandora's Box (1929). The film, titled locally as Pandora’nın Kutusu’nun, will be shown on March 10th with live musical accompaniment by Yiğit Özatalay and Mustafa Kemal Emirel (Yürüyen Merdiven). This presentation is open to those 18 years and older. More information as well as ticket availability can be found HERE.


According to the Daily Sabah newspaper, "Kundura Cinema's most anticipated screenings with live music takes its place in the March program. Georg Wilhelm Pabst's silent film Pandora's Box, produced in 1929, focusing on a free-loving, status-climbing dancer who murders her rich paramour in Berlin, then takes up with a succession of other lovers. Pandora's Box will meet with audience in Turkey for the first time in Kundura Cinema. After many years of neglect, Deutsche Kinematek has restored the film with the supervision of Martin Koerber. The restoration is considered to be a great advertisement for what can be achieved in film industry through new digital techniques."

[UPDATE & CORRECTION: I received an email from the International Istanbul Silent Cinema event in Turkey which informed me that Pandora's Box was first screened in that country at the 3rd International Istanbul Silent Cinema Days in 2016, with the introduction by Deutsche Kinematek's director Martin Körber, who restored the film. That event took place on December 15, 2016. More information about that event can be found HERE.]

The venue puts a bit of a new twist on the film by describing it this way: "A free-loving, status-climbing dancer murders her rich paramour, then takes up with a succession of other lovers, gradually descending to the streets as a hooker. Pandora's Box is an acknowledged masterpiece and example of a 'femme fatale'."


The Kundura Cinema, housed in a former shoe and leather factory, began showing classic films late last year. The cinema is housed in the Beykoz Kundura building in an old industrial part of town that is fast becoming an artistic and cultural hub. (A film studio was also opened in the complex.) Kundura Cinema has transformed the building's boiler room, in the heart of the old factory, into a movie hall (seen below). Dating back to the 1800s, the Beykoz Kundura building was in use until the foundation of the Turkish Republic.

courtesy Kundura Sinema

According to The Guide Istanbul website, "What makes Kundura Cinema distinct from other movie theaters is its specially curated film programmes; the opening season presented a selection of old movies set in various cities. According to Yıldırım, their audience is mostly comprised of cinephiles, students, young professionals, and locals in Beykoz who enjoy some nostalgia. New and old, mainstream and independent—the selection of screenings aims to keep a diverse balance between canonical and noncanonical films from around the world."

An earlier article in the Daily Sabah newspaper noted, "The movies to be screened by Kundura Cinema in the 2018-2019 season are focused on cities. From the first modern cities to our age, from giant metropolitans to dystopian cities of the future, from New York to Paris, from Berlin to Mexico, from Tokyo to Istanbul, the selection takes viewers on a one year journey to different geographies all over the world. Continuing to look at the past, present and future from cities located all around the world, Kundura Cinema is introducing great movies, documentaries and short movies that have been prominent since the beginning of the history of cinema in an enchanting atmosphere. From fiction to experimental movies, from dramas to comedy, from film noir to science fiction, viewers will get the chance to watch movies from different genres, as well as films that have not been screened at movie halls before."

courtesy Kundura Sinema
I am not sure when Pandora's Box was first shown in Istanbul or in Turkey, but it is known that at least some of Louise Brooks films were shown back in the day. Here, for example, is a rare 1931 newspaper advertisement for the 1930 French production, Prix de beaute.


If you having similar clippings or know of other screening of Brooks films in Turkey, please let the Louise Brooks Society know. We would also love to hear from anyone who attends the Pandora's Box screening at the Kundura Sinema.


How to get there: The Kundura Sinema is located at Yalıköy Mahallesi, Süreyya İlmen Cd. No:1, 34820 Beykoz/İstanbul, Turkey. Phone: +90 216 323 31 30. Movie goers can use a private boat service that runs in accordance with the screening schedule and departs from İstinye to Beykoz Kundura’s port. A one-way ticket costs 5 TL. For public transportation—plus a little walk—take the Yeniköy-Beykoz or İstinye-Çubuklu ferry line. You can also catch a bus or dolmuş to Beykoz in Üsküdar and Kadıköy.

courtesy Beykoz Kundura

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