A collaboration of Yabangee and ATÖLYE – we proudly continue with a new, exciting season of Expat Spotlight – a monthly series showcasing the freshest, most inspiring contributions being made by Istanbul’s diverse international community to the city’s cultural, sporting, humanitarian, and business spheres. An opportunity to share moving stories, reflect on personal experiences and participate in a resourceful dialogue, we invite foreigners and locals alike to come and embolden others.
Taking place in English, the latest season of Expat Spotlight continues on Wednesday 22 January with the theme of “film & television”.
The event starts at 19:30, with doors set to open at 19:00. No need to RSVP to join. As always, refreshments are provided.
Master of Ceremonies:
Jennifer Hattam is a freelance journalist from San Francisco who has been living in Istanbul since 2008. She writes about environmental, social, and urban issues, as well as art, culture, food, and travel for publications including CityLab, Culinary Backstreets, Deutsche Welle, Discover, Hyperallergic, Lonely Planet, and The Washington Post.
Guest Speakers:
Anastasia Laukkanen is co-founder and program director of ECOCUP Green Documentary Film Festival that takes place in cities of Russia and CIS countries since 2010. ECOCUP team supports local organizers to host screenings and discussions with the main principle in mind “We cannot solve the problem if we don’t talk about it”. With the same principle and the same team, she co-founded and programmed the first Documentary Film Festival about Love – Love.Doc – in 2016 in three cities of Russia, to talk about sexual education, gender, families, and many more. In 2014 she moved to Istanbul and works here with local Sustainable Living Film Festival (Sürdürülebilir Yaşam Film Festivali) – a festival that takes place in cities of Turkey. Anastasia has a background in journalism and still works as a free-lance correspondent. She is a Master of Science in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability (Sweden).
Coraline Chapatte is a multitasker and self-taught woman, acting in Turkish TV series, movies and commercials. Always ready for new adventures, she moved ten years ago from Switzerland to the South of Turkey, living the marketing life to become a diver and underwater videographer. After some years, she left the Mediterranean Sea to come to Istanbul and go back to corporate life. Completely by chance, on a fine day in 2014, she ended up on a film set and made her first appearance in a TV series. One thing leading to another, she was asked to renew the experience and since then has played regularly. Her dream is to get a continuous role in a TV series in Turkey.
Giovanni Lelli is an Italian casting agent, casting director, and actor based in Istanbul. He owns a casting agency specialized in foreigners castings that provides actors and models for feature films, tv series, commercials, photoshoots, music videos. His background is as an artist. In Italy, he was a painter and paintings restorer for churches and other historical buildings. He traveled extensively mostly across Asia backpacking and hitchhiking until his mid 40’s. He started working in the filming industry in 2014 helping several different casting agencies about 1 year after moving to Istanbul where he eventually opened his own GIOVANNI AJANS.