With the support of Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) Cinema Club and Faculty of Communication, movielovers who could not watch movies together for a long time due to the pandemic came together at an open-air film screening. EMU students, who could not watch movies in large groups as cinemas have been closed due to health risks caused by the pandemic, enjoyed watching a movie in the open air. The Golden Globe and Academy Award-winning film Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, met with the audience at the open-air screening held on Friday night, 5 November 2021, the Faculty of Communication yard.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Barçın Boğaç: “EMU Cinema Club is Getting Ready to Introduce New Projects During the New Academic Year”

EMU Cinema Club advisor Assist. Prof. Dr. Barçın Boğaç stated that they had to take a break from club activities during the pandemic, but they started to reintroduce their activities under current conditions. Assist. Prof. Dr. Barçın Boğaç added: “Realising the Open Air Cinema concept is something we wanted for a long time. The participation of not only from the Faculty of Communication, but of also students and university staff from many other faculties, points to the potential of an audience who miss watching movies together. Especially today, although we witness that watching movies in different technologies and platforms transform into individual forms, the place and taste of the collective viewing experience of cinema has always been different since its discovery; it will continue to be so”.

Stating that they will continue to organize regular film screenings on campus as much as the weather conditions allow, especially in the spring semester, Assist. Prof. Dr. Boğaç also stated that they are continuing their efforts to revive the collective and nostalgic film viewing experiences of the Cypriots in the 1950s, which were at the center of the social life, with wider, open-air film screenings to be organised within the Famagusta walls.

Students who attended the film screening expressed their experience as follows:
Halil Efe Akdemir: We haven't been able to participate in activities at the university for a long time due to the pandemic. Watching the movie together with more than sixty people in a safe environment and feeling the emotions brought by the movie together even though we didn't know each other, remembering that we were students again, and being in a technology-free environment was an experience I’ve missed so much. 

Yağmur Kayapınar: It was an extremely positive experience for me to watch a movie with my friends at our faculty yard.  I even enjoyed every single moment of the movie even thought I watched it before. In fact, I can rewatch my entire film archive in the same environment. I hope we can do this very often and I can share my film archive with all of you.

Rohat Arslan: It was a very enjoyable and pleasant activity to watch movies with my friends after a long time of isolation. It helped me adapt to the environment and act as a motivational tool in my relations with my classmates.

Aydın Çınaroğlu: Meeting with my friends at our faculty yard after a long time made me really happy. It was a warm and beautiful environment. We watched the movie with the beauty of being together, which helped us bond more. 

Yağmur Kaymak: It was a great feeling to watch a movie together in the open air after the period when we were confined to our homes. I would like to thank the cinema club for this beautiful event. I hope more will come and we will continue to sit on the grass and watch good movies and chat together.