Turkish-American film critic for the Village Voice, Bilge Ebiri stumbled across some old notebooks belonging to his father and the discovery makes us think love of film runs in the family.
In a Twitter thread Ebiri shared his discovery and the great lengths his father went to record the history of film from his generation. In multiple notebooks, Ebiri's father noted cast and crews of films of the time, while cutting of the films out of magazines and giving a star rating to each movie. The results are nostalgic and facinating,
So, here's a fun little thread that I hope won't bore you guys to tears, but it's quite special to me.— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533426422.0
When he was around 9 or 10 years old (in the mid-1950s) in Istanbul, my dad started keeping detailed, typed notes o… https://t.co/wPSCMRlRlw— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533426539.0
Also, top left corner -- see the star rating. https://t.co/UFjZDjD2hQ— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533426869.0
Dad also saw the Turkish movies coming out at the time -- and usually hated them. (Again, see the star ratings in t… https://t.co/dFdmj8NHkX— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427014.0
The attention to detail is amazing.
Understandably, he was a big fan of James Dean. https://t.co/zRYleBc4vu— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427150.0
And Marlon Brando. https://t.co/P1NLSuTi7X— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427197.0
“And Robert Taylor," he just told me. https://t.co/nTdsxsgeEF— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427280.0
When I was 5 or 6, I looked through these books incessantly. I loved seeing all these strange old pictures. But of… https://t.co/gcauCm1Nr5— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427466.0
The books are like little works of art.
(I'm sure there was a perfectly innocent explanation for this cancellation by my uncle, but it makes me laugh anywa… https://t.co/UD54PJkC6r— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427707.0
Anyway, we had stacks and stacks of these books. I just found them again going through my dad's attic. Obviously we… https://t.co/l7i0jcZEc6— Bilge Ebiri (@Bilge Ebiri) 1533427750.0
People have fallen in love with these little gems.
@BilgeEbiri This is so beautiful! My dad did something similar, but with newspaper and magazine articles. He would… https://t.co/HKhRA29a9C— Devika Girish (@Devika Girish) 1533437926.0
@BilgeEbiri This is so beautiful. It makes me want to work harder to appreciate movies.— Mark Harris (@Mark Harris) 1533480296.0
@BilgeEbiri A few years ago @TIFF_NET ref library exhibited some of 1900+ scrapbooks film fan Edith Nadajewski made… https://t.co/U7psBzl9Mj— Nathalie Atkinson (@Nathalie Atkinson) 1533482904.0
We hope there is a away to preserves these books for generations to come.