A Musical Tale of Migration
Turkey | 2022 | 60' Turkish (English subtitles)
Dir. F. Neslihan Semirci
A place contains memories, common joys, sorrows, and a history. And in the case of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra’s former venue in Ankara, it also contained a very beautiful but unwieldy historic harp. That harp was just one of the things that needed to be moved when the orchestra’s new venue was completed in 2020. Leaving the historical building where the orchestra had performed for the previous 60 years was a sad farewell to the past for the artists and instruments alike. Neslihan Semerci’s documentary ‘A Musical Migration’ captures the emotional journey of the move to the new space while documenting the design and construction process of the CSO ADA Ankara. The film includes fascinating interviews with some of the musicians who have performed with the orchestra over the years as well as some marvelous classical music performed in unusual circumstances.
Neslihan Semerci was born in Ankara in 1978 and graduated from the Ankara University-Faculty of Communication’s Department of Journalism as salutatorian in 2000. That same year she joined TRT, where she has worked in the production and management of many children's, educational-cultural and music-entertainment programs as well as various live broadcasts and dramas prepared for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Semerci is currently a director and producer at TRT İç Yapımlar, where she focuses mainly on documentaries. Her 2019 film ‘Umudun Toprağı’, about the 1919 Erzurum Congress, received the Sedat Simavi Award for Best Documentary Film from the Journalists’ Association of Turkey. ‘A Musical Tale of Migration’ has been screened at numerous festivals and won various awards, including an Award of Distinction from the Golde Saffron International Documentary Film Festival in Safranbolu in 2022.
