Balkan Ninnisi (Balkan Lullaby) series continues on TRT1 screen successfully as one of the alternative productions of Tuesday evenings. A significant change took place in the crew of the series, in which Erdal Özyağcılar took the leading role. Serdar Akar sat in the director’s chair after Doğan Ümit Karaca, who had been in the shootings as the director of the series until now, left for private reasons.
Serdar Akar, in addition to being a very experienced name, was also the director of the TV series Elveda Rumeli (Farewell Rumelia), which was broadcast on ATV between 2007 and 2009. That series was filmed in Manastır, Macedonia, and Erdal Özyağcılar played the lead role.
Erman Saban was also a young actor in the team of the series at that time. Exactly 13 years after this series, 3 important names came together again on the same set.
Erdal Özyağcılar, Erman Saban and director Serdar Akar met with excitement on the set of the same series, as they did 13 years ago, in the Balkan Ninnisi, which shows that people from different cultures can live together.
Serdar Akar started his career as the director of the series after Doğan Ümit Karaca, who shot the first 4 episodes. As it will be remembered, the producer of the Balkan Ninnisi series Uğur Uzunok and the trio of Serdar Akar and Doğan Ümit Karaca were part of the same success in the TV series Payitaht Abdülhamid.
Serdar Akar, stating that he is not a stranger to Macedonia, reminded the days of Elveda Rumeli and said:
“First of all, I am not a stranger to Macedonia. While we were shooting “Elveda Rumeli” in these lands, we told about the state of the people living here a hundred years ago. They were the ones who were going to leave, maybe those who were preparing to emigrate, and today, the ones left behind are told in the “Balkan Ninnisi”… Apart from that, it is a pleasure to meet the people we work with again. It is even more enjoyable to meet in the Balkans. Because the voice of joy is loud in these lands. I spent the best years of my life in Macedonia. My daughter’s name is Balkan. I guess that alone tells me how happy I am to have a job in the Balkans.”
The Balkan Ninnisi series is a story that takes place today and has a scenario that highlights the experiences of those who could not migrate from there. Drawing attention to this detail, director Serdar Akar stated that although Elveda Rumeli is a period drama, the Balkan Ninnisi tells the realities of today.
Serdar Akar underlined that he was someone who knew the project from the very beginning of the series and said: “I have been following the story from the beginning. When Uğur sent me the script, I told him about my experiences on “Elveda Rumeli”. We were going to start together, our schedule didn’t match. So I’ve been in the story from the very beginning. The “Balkan Ninnisi” tells an organic, clear story… Indeed, Skopje is a city divided in two. Turks and Albanians on one side and Macedonians on the other. They live together. But ultimately they are different. They know how to live with their differences. Our series tells the story of people who have learned to live differently. The venues have been carefully selected. Before the series started, I came and saw some places. Erman Saban helps us with dialect and our players who live in the city learn the dialect by hearing it. The city is a workspace for gamers.”