Fuat Uzkınay

Fuat Uzkınay — Biography

Fuat Uzkınay is remembered as the man who shot the first film in Turkish cinema history. The 1914 documentary of the demolition of the Russian Monument at Ayastefanos, which he filmed while on military duty, is counted as the start of Turkish cinema. In the following years he worked as director, cinematographer and producer on some of the earliest Turkish films, and his name is carried today by a studio of the Armed Forces Photo and Film Center in Ankara.

He came to film as an educator. After Istanbul High School he studied physics and chemistry at the Darülfünun, and as a school principal he gave pupils lessons introducing cinema. He learned to run a projector from Sigmund Weinberg and worked for the opening of the Millî Sinema in Şehzadebaşı on 19 March 1914. The Ayastefanos film, shot on 14 November 1914 as a reserve officer, ran to 150 metres. In 1915 the Central Army Cinema Department was set up on Enver Pasha's order; he served as Weinberg's assistant and soon took over its leadership.

He trained in filmmaking in Germany, and Himmet Ağa'nın İzdivacı (1918), finished against considerable difficulty, is regarded as the first Turkish narrative film. His credits also include Leblebici Horhor Ağa, Binnaz and Mürebbiye. He retired from the army in 1954 and died in Istanbul on 29 March 1956; he was buried at Karacaahmet Cemetery.