You haven’t asked, but I was traveling for a week and am back to book editing camp in İstanbul! I will post about this after driving around for a week. One stop was in Urla, İzmir: Mrs. and Mr. Kesal established a fantastic cultural center near the city center. An old animal farm now serves as a campus.
UrlaDam, located in Urla, Izmir, is a culture and arts campus that brings together theater, music, cinema, exhibitions, workshops, gastronomy, and lodging. Led by Ercan Kesal and Nazan Kesal, the initiative was created by transforming a former livestock facility into a cultural center.
Contact
- Address: Camiatik Neighborhood, Mimoza Street No. 13/A, 35430 Urla/Izmir.urladam.com
- Phone: +90 232 434 05 55.urladam.com
- Email: info@urladam.com.tr.urladam.com
- Official website: urladam.com.tr
For the event schedule and ticket information, please visit the “Upcoming Events” page on the official website, as well as the venue pages on Biletinial and Bubilet.
Honestly, I thought Ercan Kesal was just an actor whom I liked. He has a degree in anthropology, and he was eager to initiate Anthropology talks. I would like to thank Prof. Göksel Aymaz, who organized these talks and invited me as well.
Ercan Kesal is a Turkish physician, actor, screenwriter, director, and writer, born in Avanos, Nevşehir, in 1959. He is widely associated with the cinema of Nuri Bilge Ceylan and is also known to television audiences for playing İdris Koçovalı in Çukur.
Career
Kesal graduated from Ege University’s Faculty of Medicine in 1984 and worked as a doctor in Ankara’s towns and villages before moving to Istanbul and working in the private health sector.ercankesal
His screen career began as an actor in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Uzak (2002). He later co-wrote and acted in Üç Maymun (2008), and was a screenwriter and actor in Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (2011). The screenplay of Three Monkeys was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes.
Filmmaking and writing
He made his directing debut with the short documentary Fındıktan Sonra (Gone with the Hazelnuts) in 2018.iffr
His first feature as writer-director and lead actor was Nasipse Adayız (You Know Him, 2020), adapted from his novella.iffr
Alongside cinema, he has written poetry, stories, essays, and books; his early writing appeared while he was a medical student.ercankesal
He is married to actor Nazan Kesal. Together, they are among the figures associated with UrlaDam, the culture-and-arts campus in Urla.
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