Amanda Kvortek Helps with Documentary About Turkey

In 2005 college graduate Amanda Kvortek took a trip to Istanbul, Turkey. It wasn' t a trip for pleasure, but a trip for a wonderful experience. She gaveup two weeks of her summer vacation to work on a project for college, but not even one of her courses. She paid her own way, but got a wonderful experience.

What was the documentary about and about how long will it be?

The documentary is about the misconceptions about Turkey and Western influences. We have about 11 hours of footage, but the documentary itself will be about 15 minutes. We followed a student at the University of Istanbul to show people what life was like for an ordinary person living in Istanbul.

What was your role on the project?

I was the producer, but I also assisted in the editing.

What was it done for?

It was done for the Robert Morris University documentary center. Other students went to Turkey and some went to other countries like Germany.

How did the idea of going to Turkey instead of another country come about?

Dr. Sequin, who is the head of the department, visited Istanbul about two years ago and wanted to do an exchange program with the university there.

How was producing a documentary different from the student film "Out of The Woods?"

It was very different because with the documentary there are a lot less people and a lot more pressure on me to do my job, as well as the others. It was exciting because we didn't really know what we were getting into when we signed up.

What kind of preparations did you have to do before going?

We had to get all of our equipment together. Other than that there wasn't much else because we didn't know what we were going to do until we got there. Of course I needed to get a passport and all that before I could fly into another country.

Would you do it again?

If I could yes, but not to Turkey. But I would definitely go overseas again, it was a lot of fun.

When was the documentary shown to others?

That fall in October I believe when the new president took over the college.

What was it like flying for the first time, and going to another country all at once?