Yılmaz Güney
| Yılmaz Güney | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
1 April 1937 Yenice, Karataş, Turkey |
| Died |
9 September 1984 (aged 47) Paris, France |
| Other names | Çirkin Kral (Ugly King) |
| Occupation |
Film director Screenwriter Actor |
| Years active | 1958 – 1983 |
Yılmaz Güney (born Yılmaz Pütün, 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Turkish film director, scenarist, novelist, and actor of Zaza, Kurdish origin, who produced movies in Turkish.[1][2][3][4][4] He quickly rose to prominence in Turkish Film Industry. Many of his works were devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey. Yılmaz Güney won the Palme d'Or with the film Yol he co-produced with Şerif Gören at Cannes Film Festival in 1982. At odds with then Turkish Government he fled the country and later lost his citizenship.
Background
Yılmaz Güney was born in 1937 in the Yenice county of Adana. His father was Zaza from Siverek and his mother was Kurd from Varto.[4] His parents migrated to Adana to work as cotton field laborers. As a result of his family background, young Yılmaz grew among the working class. This was a strong background for his future works which generally focused on a realistic portrayal of downtrodden and marginalized strata of the population in the country. Güney studied law and economics at the universities of Ankara and Istanbul, but by the age of 21 he found himself actively involved in film-making.
Career in Turkey
As Yeşilçam, the Turkish studio system, a handful of directors, including Atıf Yılmaz, began to use cinema as a means of addressing the problems of the people. State-sanctioned melodramas, war films, and play adaptations had mostly previously been played in Turkish theaters. These new filmmakers began to shoot and screen more realistic pictures of Turkish/Kurdish life. Yılmaz Güney was one of the most popular names to emerge from this trend, a gruff-looking young actor who earned the moniker Çirkin Kral ("the Ugly King" in Turkish) or "parşay naşirîn" in Kurdish (Sorani dialect). After working as an apprentice screenwriter for and assistant to Atıf Yılmaz, Güney soon began appearing in as many as 20 films a year and became Turkey's one of the most popular actors.
The early 1960s brought restricted freedom to Turkey, and Güney was imprisoned from 1960 to 1962. In prison he wrote what some labeled a "communist" novel, They Died with Their Heads Bowed.[5] The country's political situation and Güney's relationship with the authorities became even more tense in the ensuing years. Not content with his star status atop the Turkish film industry, Güney began directing his own pictures in 1965. By 1968 he had formed his own production company, Güney Filmcilik. Over the next few years, the titles of his films mirrored the feelings of the people of Turkey: Umut (Hope, 1970); Ağıt (Elegy, 1972); Acı (Pain, 1971); The Hopeless (1971).
After 1972, however, Güney would spend most of his life in prison. Arrested for harboring anarchist students, Güney was jailed during preproduction of Zavallılar (The Miserable, 1975), and before completing Endişe (Worry, 1974), which was finished in 1974 by Güney's assistant, Şerif Gören. This was a role that Gören would repeat over the next dozen years, directing several scripts that Güney wrote in prison.
Released from prison in 1974 as part of a general amnesty, Güney was re-arrested that same year for shooting Sefa Mutlu, the public prosecutor of Yumurtalık district in Adana Province, to death in a night club as a result of a drunken row[6] and given a prison sentence of 19 years. During this stretch of incarceration, his most successful screenplays were Sürü (The Herd, 1978) and Düşman (The Enemy, 1979), both directed by Zeki Ökten. Düşman won an Honourable Mention at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival in 1980.[7]
Exile and death
After escaping from prison in 1981 and fleeing to France, Güney won the Palme d'Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for his film Yol, whose director in the field was once again Şerif Gören. It was not until 1983 that Güney resumed directing, telling a brutal tale of imprisoned children in his final film, Duvar (The Wall, 1983), made in France with the cooperation of the French government. Meanwhile, Turkey's government revoked his citizenship and a court sentenced him to twenty-two extra years in jail.[5]
Yılmaz Güney died of gastric cancer in 1984, in Paris, France.[5]
Filmography
Actor
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Director
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Biography
A biography of Güney, Halkın Sanatçısı, Halkın Savaşçısı: Yılmaz Güney, was published by Dönüşüm Publishing in 1992, and reprinted in 2000. Its publisher was fined in 2001 because of some of the book's content, although this was overturned in 2003 when the relevant law was repealed.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ Suad Joseph, Afsaneh Najmabadi, Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures: Family, law, and politics, Brill, 2005, ISBN 978-90-04-12818-7, id=4Uyypm6T7ZsC&pg=PA361&dq=%22Y%C4%B1lmaz+G%C3%BCney%22++Marxist+director&hl=tr&ei=W8PATNjXJYaWvAO6sKyqCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=Marxist%20director&f=false p. 361.
- ↑ Joost Jongerden, The settlement issue in Turkey and the Kurds: an analysis of spatial policies, modernity and war, Brill, 2007, ISBN 978-90-04-15557-2, p. 31.
- ↑ Pope, Hugh and Nicole Pope, Turkey Unveiled: A History of Modern Turkey, (Overlook TP, 2000), 254.
- 1 2 3 Interview with Guney's wife, Hürriyet / 05.03.2000 http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/index/ArsivNews.aspx?id=-137888
- 1 2 3 New York Times, 10 September 1984, Yilmaz Guney Is Dead;Turkish Film Director
- ↑ Turkish Daily Hürriyet Account of the eye witness Mehmet Uyulhas
- ↑ "Berlinale 1980: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2010-08-17.
- ↑ ECHR, 10 May 2007, Üstün v. Turkey, Application no. 37685/02
External links
- Yilmaz Güney at the Internet Movie Database
- Interviews and information (French)
- Great Directors profile of Yilmaz Guney, Senses of Cinema
- Picture gallery on saradistribution
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ekrem Bora |
Golden Orange Award for Best Actor 1967 for Hudutların Kanunu |
Succeeded by Fikret Hakan |
| Preceded by newly established |
Golden Boll Award for Best Actor 1969 for Seyyit Han 1970 |
Succeeded by Kadir İnanır |
| Preceded by Safa Önal |
Golden Boll Award for Best Screenplay 1970 for Umut 1971 |
Succeeded by not awarded |
| Preceded by Cüneyt Arkın |
Golden Orange Award for Best Actor 1970 for Bir Çirkin Adam |
Succeeded by Fikret Hakan |
| Preceded by Bilge Olgaç |
Golden Boll Award for Best Director 1971 for Ağıt |
Succeeded by Ertem Eğilmez |
| Preceded by Sadık Şendil |
Golden Orange Award for Best Screenplay 1975 for Endişe |
Succeeded by Umur Bugay |
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