She took on roles in various plays staged at the Şahika Tekand Acting and Art Theater and at the Theater Oyunevi. Damgacı was also a soloist in the Göçebe Şarkılar (nomadic songs) band. What she narrates in the movie "Gitmek" (My Marlon and Brando), for which she was awarded the best actress award at the Sarajevo Film Festival, is actually her story. Falling in love with an Iraqi actor, Hama Ali Khan, in 2001 during the shooting of a film, Damgacı could not see her lover after the US occupied Iraq.
She decided to find Khan in Iraq and entered the chaos of the war in Iraq. Then she wrote the script for "Gitmek." Afterwards, director Hüseyin Karabey got the script and turned it into a film. Getting the support of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, filming began. The leading roles were given to the story's actual characters, Damgacı and Khan. The story, born in both fiction and reality, has been met with love and interest everywhere it has been. We spoke with Damgacı about the movie, to be released in November, and about the awards it has won so far.

Considering how the story was put together, what do you think about the awards your movie has won?

Everything has been beyond our expectations. I wrote the script in one night and then met with Hüseyin Karabey. We revised the story completely. It took three years to finish everything. In fact, we went through 13-14 versions of the story.

Did you ever think of giving up?

I was a little nervous. Would this [the movie] happen, how would it happen and who would play the roles? Hüseyin told me that I would be the lead actress from the very beginning. But I thought, "That would be absurd." Now and then I was convinced, but I kept changing my mind. I did not believe that I would be taking the lead role until filming began. I was frightened to death when the Ministry of Culture and Tourism provided us with funds!

Why this fear?

It was the excitement of the movie and the fear of not being able to act [well].

Do you experience the same feeling while acting in a play as well?

Yes, very much so. And it increases each time instead of decreasing. I am not one of those actresses who are comfortable on stage. I am a person split between wanting to be on stage and being incredibly fearful. Such a conflict exists inside me.

The movie progresses depending on your decisions. If you wait or choose to proceed in another way, the story changes significantly.

In fact, I waited for him [Khan] to come for one-and-a-half years. I contacted all official authorities, but all proved impossible. Then I thought, "If I want to see him so badly, why don't I go there?" It seems crazy, but this was the most normal way. If a person wants to see another, s/he goes there and sees him/her. War is itself abnormal. There is such a thing called war; what can we do? Wars cannot hinder two people who want to reach each other.

Another interesting thing in your story is that fiction and reality are intertwined. You met as actors on a film set and kept your relationship after the film shoot. Then this story turns into a movie and you become actor and actress in your own story. During the filming, how were you able to differentiate reality from fiction?

In a theater play or in film, people get closer to each other in the play or film's fictional reality. You do not have your own identity there. There, the meeting is the meeting of souls, which cannot be caught in real life. There are many obstacles when it comes to being together in real life. Actually, this is also important. If we had come together, the meeting of the souls would not have been experienced. This then jumps into the film and you relive it in a strange way. Truth be told, there is more freedom in fiction.

But this story is different. Although fictional, it is still your story, is it not? To prepare for a role, an actor must get to know and immerse one's self in one's character. How did you prepare to play yourself?

In scenes directly deriving from my memories, recalling emotions and memories became easier. An actor does not necessarily have to become a killer to play a killer in a piece of fiction. But I know this love story and the woman who is in love. That provided a big advantage and comfort to me.

Are there any disadvantages in this?

No. This is all acting and you act. You know the distance [between fiction and reality]. You call on emotions and act. After hearing "cut," everything returns to normal. The usual stage conversations start.

How do you see yourself on the big screen?

That is a difficult question to answer because I don't like my acting and criticize myself cruelly. When we are in rehearsals for theater plays, I close my eyes with my hands and look at people behind my hands. I cannot bear this! I cannot tolerate what I do.

Films are filled with ideal love characters and items. They resemble the Romeo/Juliet and Leyla/Mejnun love stories. However, this movie has no imposed "ideal beauties." What were your thoughts on this while producing the movie?

I never think that I am abnormal. Of course, there are some who are imposed by the entertainment industry as beautiful and handsome. But there is also the fact that "your beauty is nothing if I don't love you." We tried to leave everything to its natural course. A woman like me and a man like him fall in love; who can avoid this? Don't we see couples on the street and ask, "What are they doing together?" But this is love.

Have you ever evaluated your awards in this respect? That you won awards only because of your acting abilities, not because of your beauty?

At first, I could not believe that I won. People say, "The film itself could not win an award so they awarded its actors and actresses." I believed this, but after the third award [in Sarajevo], given by juries comprising various people, I was finally convinced it was the movie.

Todays Zaman