In this episode we hosted Can Candan, acclaimed independent documentary filmmaker and professor of film and media studies. Professor Candan was at Northwestern for the screening of his film Duvarlar-Mauern-Walls at the Block Museum and his talk on the current state of academic freedoms in Turkey. We took this opportunity to talk to him about the changing conditions of academic and artistic production in Turkey in the last few years.

Can Candan is an independent filmmaker and a lecturer at Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey. He has a BA from Hampshire College in film and video, and an MFA from Temple University in film and media arts. As a filmmaker since 1989, his works have been screened internationally at festivals, conferences, schools, universities, in galleries, cinemas, and on television. He has taught film courses and workshops, both in universities and media education centers in the United States and in Turkey. He is a founding member of docIstanbul Center for Documentary Studies which organized the 2010 Visible Evidence International Documentary Studies Conference at Bogazici University in Istanbul.

We recorded this episode on January 24th, 2019 and the situation has only got worse since then. Academic for Peace Prof. Dr. Füsun Üstel became the first academic to be imprisoned for having signed the peace declaration. On May 8th, she submitted herself to Eskişehir Women’s Closed Prison after her prison one year and the months prison sentence was upheld by the court of appeals.
#FreeFusunUstel

Academic for Peace, Assistant Professor Dr Tuna Altınel from Lyon I University Department of Mathematics was arrested on charges of terrorist propaganda for his participation in a conference in France. He was detained on May 11th while filing an application regarding his passport ban at a police station in the city of Balıkesir.
#FreeTunaAltinel

The lawsuits have been continuing while other academics have also been detained and released arbitrarily.

An article summarizing the most current situation: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/01/about-700-academics-have-been-criminally-charged-turkey-their-signatures-petition?fbclid=IwAR3BFUtUqZw_O9XqfE5jcSfFChDY9BwyKbRC_d4TH-uvE-JHBf8KqL-YGBg#.XR0OcBrjFsg.facebook


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