Yılmaz Güney

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Yılmaz Güney, (born: Yılmaz Pütün) (April 1, 1937 — September 9, 1984) was a famous film director, scenarist, novelist and actor of Kurdish descent. Many of his works are devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey. He described himself as an "assimilated Kurd".^[1]

Contents 1 Biography 2 Exile and death 3 Filmography 3.1 Actor 4 Director 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Biography

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Yilmaz Guney was born in 1937 in the Yenice village of the southern city of Adana. His father was a Kurd from Varto Turkey and his mother was a Kurd from Siverek, Turkey. Güney studied law and economics at the universities in Ankara and Istanbul, but by the age of 21 he found himself actively involved in film-making. As Yeşilçam, the Turkish studio system, grew in strength, a handful of directors, including Atıf Yılmaz, began to use the cinema as a means of addressing the problems of the people. Mostly, state-sanctioned melodramas, war films and play adaptations had previously played in Turkish theaters, but these new filmmakers began to fill the screens with more artistic, personal and relevant pictures of Turkish/Kurdish life. The most popular name to emerge from the Young Turkish Cinema was Yılmaz Güney. Güney was a gruff-looking young actor who earned the moniker "Çirkin Kral," ("the Ugly King") or (pasha nashrin) in Kurdish. 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 most popular actor.

Although the early 1960s brought some political freedom to Turkey, Güney was imprisoned in 1961 for 18 months for publishing a "communist" novel. The country's political situation and Güney's relationship with the authorities only became 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 cherished role that Gören would repeat over the next dozen years, directing several scripts that Güney wrote laboriously while behind bars.

Released from prison in 1974 as part of a general amnesty, Güney was re-arrested that same year with a charge of murder of the public prosecutor of Yumurtalık district in Adana Province, Turkey. During this stretch of incarceration, his most successful screenplays were Sürü (The Herd, 1978) and Düşman (The Enemy, 1979), both directed by Zeki Ökten.

"The Herd, in fact, is the history of the Kurdish people, but I could not even use the Kurdish language in this film; if we had used Kurdish, all those who took part in this film would have been sent to jail..." Güney said in his last interview with journalist Chris Kutschera.

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.

[edit] Exile and death

Güney was an active member of the Türkiye Halk Kurtuluş Partisi-Cephesi (THKP-C) (Turkish People's Liberation Party-Front, TPLP-F) organization and was on the run from Turkish police as he was found guilty of shooting a public prosecutor, thus it is believed this is the reason for his exile. Yılmaz Güney died of gastric cancer in 1984, in Paris, France.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Actor

[edit] Director

[edit] See also

• List of Turkish film directors

[edit] References

1. ^ http://www.chris-kutschera.com/A/Yilmaz%20Guney.htm

[edit] External links

• Yilmaz Güney at the Internet Movie Database
• Interviews and information (French)
• Great Directors profile of Yilmaz Guney, Senses of Cinema

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 for Umut 1971 for Ağıt	Succeeded by Kadir İnanır
Preceded by Safa Önal	Golden Boll Award for Best Screenplay 1970 for Umut 1971 for Ağıt	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

v • d • e Golden Orange Award for Best Actor İzzet Günay (1964) · Fikret Hakan (1965) · Ekrem Bora (1966) · Yılmaz Güney (1967) · Fikret Hakan (1968) · Cüneyt Arkın (1969) · Yılmaz Güney (1970) · Fikret Hakan (1971) · Murat Soydan (1972) · Tarık Akan (1973) · Hakan Balamir (1974) · Erkan Yücel (1975) · Cüneyt Arkın (1976) · Kemal Sunal (1977) · Tarık Akan (1978) · İhsan Yüce (1981) · Genco Erkal (1982) · Genco Erkal (1983) · Tarık Akan (1984) · Hakan Balamir (1985) · Kadir İnanır (1986) · Şener Şen (1987) · Aytaç Arman (1988) · Tarık Akan (1989) · Tarık Akan (1990) · Ekrem Bora (1991) · Mehmet Aslantuğ (1992) · Mehmet Aslantuğ (1993) · Sadri Alışık-Mehmet Aslantuğ (1994) · Halil Ergün (1995) · Ruhi Sarı (1996) · Tanju Gürsu (1997) · Erkan Can (1998) · Uğur Polat (1999) · Talat Bulut (2000) · Altan Erkekli (2001) · Fırat Tanış (2002) · Tarık Akan (2003) · Olgun Şimşek (2004) · Şener Şen (2005) · Erkan Can (2006) · Murat Han (2007) · Tayanç Ayaydın (2008)

v • d • e Golden Orange Award for Best Screenplay Vedat Türkali (1965) · Erol Keskin-Haldun Dormen (1966) · Erol Günaydın-Erol Keskin (1967) · Türkan Duru (1968) · Türkan Duru (1969) · Sadık Şendil (1970) · Bülent Oran (1971) · Sadık Şendil (1972) · Hamdi Değirmencioğlu (1973) · Sadık Şendil (1974) · Yılmaz Güney (1975) · Umur Bugay (1976) · Vedat Türkali (1977) · Umur Bugay (1978) · Tuncel Kurtiz-Nurettin Sezer (1981) · Yavuz Turgul (1982) · Fehmi Yaşar (1983) · Bilge Olgaç (1984) · Muammer Özer (1985) · Yavuz Turgul (1986) · Yavuz Turgul (1987) · Feride Çiçekoğlu (1989) · Süheyla Acar Kalyoncu (1990) · Orhan Pamuk (1991) · Macit Koper (1992) · Yavuz Turgul (1993) · Nuray Oğuz (1994) · Aykut Tankuter-Artun Yeres (1995) · Derviş Zaim (1996) · Barış Pirhasan (1997) · Turgut Yasalar (1998) · Zeki Demirkubuz (1999) · Fatih Altınöz (2000) · Handan İpekçi (2001) · Nuri Bilge Ceylan (2002) · Ömer Kavur-Macit Koper (2003) · Uğur Yücel (2004) · Nilüfer Güngörmüş-Reha Erdem (2005) · Önder Çakar (2006) · Semih Kaplanoğlu-Orçun Köksal (2007) · Ben Hopkins (2008)

v • d • e Golden Boll Award for Best Actor Yılmaz Güney (1969) · Yılmaz Güney (1970) · Yılmaz Güney (1971) · Kadir İnanır (1972) · Cüneyt Arkın (1973) · Tarık Akan (1992) · Menderes Samancılar (1993) · Mehmet Aslantuğ (1994) · Halil Ergün (1995) · Halil Ergün (1996) · Haluk Bilginer (1997) · Kenan İmirzalıoğlu-Olgun Şimşek (2005) · Turan Özdemir (2006) · Cezmi Baskın (2007) · Teoman Kumbaracıbaşı- Murat Öncül- Ali Çelik- Murat Makçı- Murat Kılıç- Ruhi Sarı- Mustafa Kırantepe- Hasan Şahintürk- Barış Yıldız- Emin Gürsoy- İnan Temelkuran- Güven İnce- Kadir Çermik- Ali Rıza Kubilay- Öner Erkan- A. Mümtaz Taylan- İnan Ulaş Torun- Aykut Kayacık (2008)

v • d • e Golden Boll Award for Best Director Metin Erksan (1969) · Bilge Olgaç (1970) · Yılmaz Güney (1971) · Ertem Eğilmez (1972) · Yılmaz Duru (1973) · Yusuf Kurçenli-Tunç Başaran (1992) · Memduh Ün (1993) · Erden Kıral (1994) · Kadir Sözen (1995) · Tunç Başaran (1996) · Zeki Demirkubuz (1997) · Uğur Yücel (2005) · Ezel Akay (2006) · Nihat Durak (2007) · İnan Temelkuran (2008)