“AI or Authentic Filmmaking” panel and Emin Alper’s masterclass at Kinenova today: I never arrive on set unprepared

Revisiting “Beyond the Hill”

“Beyond the Hill”, the debut feature by Emin Alper, this year’s Kinenova International Film Festival laureate, was screened at the festival yesterday. Today, he returned to the film during a masterclass with students from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts.

“I have not watched the film since 2016, and I remember every detail I filmed and every scene we shot. But from today’s perspective, I would change some things in the cinematography, the characters and so on. We had very little time to shoot, so we filmed only the essential shots, and I had no time to try out new camera angles. The cinematographer and I had a major argument because there was no contrast. In all my other films, I try to capture the contrast between day and night, but it is missing from this one because I had an argument with the cinematographer. And that was precisely what the argument was about,” said Alper.

Preparation, co-productions and pitching

Speaking to the students today, he discussed the importance of co-productions and pitching at major festivals. He said he himself had realised their value relatively late: in the past, he had thought he did not need them, but later understood that every suggestion, every criticism and every kind of help can be useful when working on a film.

He also spoke about shooting television series he had worked on in Turkey and said he never arrived on set unprepared. He always prepares before filming, which was precisely why making “Beyond the Hill” had been difficult for him: both the budget and the number of shooting days were limited.

AI or authentic filmmaking

Later in today’s Kinenova programme, a panel discussion entitled “AI or Authentic Filmmaking” was held. Students discussed the dilemmas surrounding the subject with Emin Alper, Goce Cvetanovski and Dejan Iliev.