Rethinking Young Turk Revolution :|Manaki Brothers still and moving images

Abstract

Yanaki Manaki (1878-1954) and Milton Manaki (1882-1964) are regarded as the pioneers of the Balkan cinema who built a collection composed of 17583 photographs and 2477,2 meters of moving images preserved today at the Cinematheque of Macedonia and the State Archive of the Republic of Macedonia, Department of Bitola. The present thesis focuses on twelve minutes of film produced by Manaki Brothers, depicting the era beginning with the "Young Turk Revolution" or the Restoration of the Constitution in Manastır (nowadays Bitola) in 1908. The photographs taken by Manaki Brothers on the same subject are used as long as they are related to the content of the films. The study is an attempt to evaluate archival films as historical evidence, to consider their intrinsic properties in deconstructing the filmmaking process. At this point, the main goal is to explore the potential of archival films but also their limits as sources of information about the past. The thesis then focuses on content analysis of films as visual descriptions of ceremonies held in Manastır between "1908-1911" An emphasis is placed on the deconstruction of the "10 July festivals" national holiday commemorating the Young Turk Revolution from 1909 onwards.