The world is changed.
I feel it in the water.
I feel it in the earth.
I smell it in the air.
Much that once was is lost;
for none now live who remember it. (The Lord of the Rings)
Hello,
I'm a person who tries to tell stories.
So I wanted to start with the
prologue of one of my favorite stories.
It's a story that tells the world is
changing, and in a way, it's a story that
changes the world.
Curiously enough, not only the world which
can be evaluated as the place we live
and as a great living being; but also
we, as each of us being a small world
who lives in it
changes constantly.
As we change,
we change the world too.
So I try to shoot documentary films
in order to see those
changes better.
To document the world and people
living on it in a better way.
As Tarkovsky says;
"Sculpting in time".
But why?
Why do we try to stop the time which is
slipping by between our hands?
Is it because we fear of what it
transforms us into,
or to seize the moment?
"Gather ye rosebuds
While ye may".
Why did the poet write these lines?
Because, believe it
or not,
everyone in this saloon
will stop breathing one day.
Because, with every moment,
out stories are coming to an end.
But we?
We want eternity.
Or at least, we want to
catch the moments we live in,
and eternalize them.
That's why I try to
shoot documentaries.
About five years ago from today,
when the term Selfie
was not invented,
one day I picked up my
cell phone and took my own
photo, to seize the moment.
Next day, I took a photo one more
time with the same angle.
Then one more time,
one more time,
and I changed it into a project.
As an indicator of my effort
to seize the moment.
And, in the past few days, months;
I started shooting video blogs,
or in popular terms, vlogs,
at YouTube.
What I do is to catch small sections
from my life, to keep them
and to share with others.
And I name all of my efforts as
personal documentarism.
Personal documentarism.
But there are other people who
does this job, especially the documentary
part, much better than me.
For example, look at this documentary.
Those children, you see, come together
for the first time in their lives.
They're all 7 years old, ordinary children.
Of course they all have
different life stories, they come
from different social environments.
So why do you think they were
brought together in that zoo,
in a cold day of 1963?
To do what?
To shoot a documentary.
To understand what the world
will change into, in the future.
Because today, in 2016,
maybe one of these children works
as a salesclerk in a store.
And the child near him or her
may be the manager of
that chain store, who knows?
But when we're watching them now,
we see them as clean, white
empty pages.
Everyone will start to fill their
notebooks with their own
touches, as time passes by.
Like Mr. Keating did
in Dead Poets Society.
And like he had it done.
I want you to examine those
faces belonging to the past.
They don't seem different from you, do they?
They feel invincible,
like you feel now.
For example, look at these two impishes.
Their names are Bruce and Neil.
They believe that their destinies
are to achieve great things,
like most of you believe.
Especially look at Neil, on the right,
talking continuously.
His eyes; filled with
light, life, hope,
such as your eyes.
But could those
children do what their
powers afford?
Or did they wait until the ship
has sailed?
I wonder what did they change into
as the world changes.
I wish we could see it.
The ones who shot this documentary
could have thought the
same because after 7 years,
in the 1970s, they shot the second part
of the documentary by visiting these 14
children who came to the age of 14.
In this part we see Neil as he goes
to school with his bicycle.
Now he is a student.
It's clear in all aspects.
Yes he is a student, but what
happened to the light in his eyes?
It started to dim out.
So when 7 more years will pass,
will this light totally dim out?
The curious documentarists
like you and me wondered about
the answer of this question and
they visited those 21 years old
youngsters again.
Now it's 1977.
You can understand it from
Neil's clothes.
He got dressed up to date.
He applied to Oxford University,
but he wasn't accepted.
He entered into a different university,
but probably he couldn't hold on there.
That's why he's not going to school now.
During the interview, he is asked;
"Would you like to be 7 years old again?"
I want you to think about it.
Would you like to be 7 years old again?
Would you?
If you could, what would you change?
So why don't you change it now?
It is seizing the moment, isn't it?
Starting from now on.
Neil says no to this question.
"I wouldn't like to be 7, because
I know that I will be 21 again".
But still, he wants to be an important
person in life and wants to influence
other people's lives.
In short, to change himself and the world.
So this is Neil and the 4th part
of the documentary which sheds light
to his 13 friends' lives was published
in 1984.
And Neil is unemployed
and homeless now.
So he starts to look for a place to live
by going around in England
by hitch-hiking.
After spending
such a life for 7 years,
he finally
finds a place to live in a small island
near Scotland.
He even starts to act small
parts in a local theatre there.
In the life play that he acts on
the stage of the world,
this time we see him
as a real actor.
I wonder if he's pleased with himself now.
How does he look like?
Does he still feel invincible?
Does he think that he can change the world?
They ask him that;
"Do you think you have failed?"
I want you to ask this to yourselves.
Do you think you have failed?
What is the thing we call success?
A target we want to reach,
a treasure to seek and find.
What is success?
So do you wonder Neil's answer?
"I cannot decide it" he says;
"my life hasn't come to an end yet".
This is an answer of a person who still
believes that he can change.
Indeed he's 42 years old,
we see him near his childhood
friend, Bruce.
You remember Bruce, don't you?
The boy who was 7,
who sits in silence
while Neil was
speaking continuously.
This is him.
This documentary actually
represents Bruce's life to us
with 7 years of breaks too,
but his life is more familiar,
more ordinary.
An education on mathematics,
then graduation, then teaching,
marriage, two children, etc.
So what is Neil doing near his childhood
friend after so many years?
I want you to revive your memories
for the answer.
To think about his 21 years old status.
You know, he left university
but he still
wanted to be an important person,
to change the world.
When they ask him, "How are you
going to do that?",
he said; "I don't know, maybe
I'll go into politics".
He couldn't do this for 21 years
but in the age of 42, we see him
in London, working as a council
member in a local parliament.
Moreover, 7 years pass
and he is promoted to regional assembly.
7 more years pass and in 2012,
when the 8th part of the documentary
is published, there is a liberal democrat
politician who joined in general
elections in England.
Maybe you have been waiting
for me to tell you
a story of success.
To tell that he won the elections,
he achieved his dreams,
a happy ending.
But no.
He couldn't succeed, couldn't win,
because real life stories are
filled with obscurities.
But isn't it the good side?
To be unknown.
After all, this documentary
in Neil's life and his journey in life
hasn't finished yet.
And I wait excitedly and curiously
for its new episode which will be
published in 2019.
So, why 7 years?
To tell the truth, I couldn't find the
answer of this inside the documentary.
But biologically, it is said that we
become a new person every 7 years.
How?
I'm going to give details about it,
so I put brankets here, then
I'll turn back to the documentary.
There are about 37 trillion cells
in our bodies and as I'm
telling this, about 5 million cells
of me has died.
The same thing happened
to you while you are watching
or listening to me.
But don't worry,
because within this month, there will be
about 450 billion new cells.
More than the numbers of
the stars in milkyway.
And in 7 years, all of the cells
within our bodies will be renewed.
Almost all.
So biologically, we will be
whole new people.
I especially say
almost all because
there is an important exception here,
the brain cells.
They are not renewed.
Yes, that's right.
They do not change.
What about the ideas,
thoughts within them?
Maybe we are not aware
of the change of the cells
in our bodies.
It happens out of our control,
but to change the ideas,
thoughts which are in the
only unchangeable
cell group, brain cells,
it's in your hands.
So I close the brackers,
now I turn back to the documentary.
Roger Eburt, who is a famous film critic,
considers this documentary series called
"Up" as one of the best 10 movies
of all times, in other words,
as one of the best 10 stories.
And he says that it penetrates into
life's mysterious center,
because it is more real and
actual than classical movies
and fictional stories.
It is the best to tell
human beings' transformation
and the unknown in that transformation.
But there is a continuous transformation
within the characters in the stories that
people tell or make up.
So, unless there is change
there would be no stories.
And this transformations generally
resembles each other.
Joseph Campbell, who makes research
about legends and myths, wrote his
work called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces"
by setting out from these similarities.
The legends created by archaic civilizations and
the stories told by asunder civilizations
always resemble each other.
The transformations within these,
works like a clock.
In all of these, the hero goes on an inner or
external journey and he
goes on an adventure.
Then, by growing up,
by changing, transforming,
he goes back to home.
At first he gets a mysterious call,
the call to adventure.
Then he realizes that he needs help, so support
appears suddenly.
Probably from an old man with white beard,
from a wise person.
Then he leaves his usual comfort zone,
his home and
he sets off.
So our adventure starts, an adventure
in this very special world.
There, he meets with some obstacles
which he tries to overcome
by some experiments.
Then the greatest obstacle,
the hardest test approaches.
Like higher education or
high school exams.
A very hard exam.
It is such a great hardship
that he starts to live
the most distressed moments
of his life.
And in that moment of crisis,
he comes to the threshold of death.
Like the way the clock shows,
he strikes the bottom.
But the one who bides,
who can survive,
gets his gift, finds his treasure
at the end.
Because the sun rises right after
the night which occurs due to the
earth's rotation and
we reach to the
light and treasure of the sun.
All in all, the whole hardships are
passed in this special world of adventures.
The hero starts to return
to his ordinary world.
But he has changed.
I don't know if 7 years have passed,
but he has changed.
And he is ready for a new life now.
The open-ended subjects in the story
are solved,
the questions are answered and
we reach to the end of story or
to a new beginning.
Like the clock, change doesn't have an end.
The transformation of hour and minute
hand, flow the time.
As the time flows,
we, who are living our personal lives,
change gradually.
Yes maybe we don't struggle with
monsters, but we
face with so important problems.
Like Neil,
like Frodo.
Like them, we face with problems too.
Because the transformation starts
with decisions, choices.
And it continues with
determination, working
and struggle.
If there is a treasure that you search
for the whole life,
of course there is a price for that.
"The cave you fear to enter, holds the
treasure you seek",
says Campbell.
In order to find that treasure,
do not fear to enter the cave,
do not fear of changing,
of transformation.
Yes, I've had great moments
with you today, that I can
add to my personal story.
So if you'll excuse me,
I want to record that moment.
Don't stop, you record it too,
we've had this together.
Our personal stories, with my words,
our personal documentaries coincided today.
It seem that I have time.
One last thing for you,
I want to give a last advice.
You should start personal documentarism.
If there any images,
photos,
collect them.
Try to start a retrospective
journey by looking at them.
For instance, find a photo of yourself
taken 7 years ago.
Which dreams you had that day?
In which stage are you, in your personal story?
Can you remember?
How you've changed.
And if you can, find a photo of
yourself when you were 7.
Ask yourself what do you want that child
to change into?
Change into what?
And what does that child change
in his world, in the world we live in?
Look at that photo again.
If you get a little bit closer,
you can hear it whispers something to you.
Incline your ear. Listen.
What does it say?
Seize the moment.
It turns your life into unusual.
Do not fear.
Do not avoid.
Because you're changing
and you're changing the world.
Thank you.
(Applause)