Directed by Serdar Yılmaz
Pergamon (today’s Bergama) was one of the first kingdoms to emerge in the Hellenistic world. The Attalid rulers designed their city largely as a stage for the presentation of religious rituals. These rituals were re-fashioned in the Hellenistic age to accommodate rituals of kingship. Through narration, re-enactments, and a bit of animation, Serdar Yılmaz’s short documentary looks at the theatrical tradition in Pergamon and how it reflected a transition from democracy to authoritarianism.
Serdar Yilmaz (Izmit, 1973) graduated from the Painting Department of the Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts in Istanbul (MA and PhD). His films have been screened at national and international film festivals and won various awards, and his experimental film and video installations have been presented at art galleries and museums in Turkey and abroad. Yılmaz has also been widely recognized for his work as a production designer and art director for both feature films and documentaries. Among his numerous awards are two ‘Golden Boll’ awards for ‘Best Art Director’ for the films ‘Shadowless’ (2009) and ‘Waiting for Heaven’ (2007), which also won a Best Art Director Award at the Ankara Film Festival. His short films ‘The Puddle’ (2015) received awards for ‘Best Experimental Film’ from both the Brooklyn and Istanbul Film Festivals as well as an award for ‘Best Surreal Film’ from the Sacramento Film Festival. Yılmaz is currently on the faculty of Balikesir University’s Faculty of Fine Arts.
