Yılmaz Güney

Yılmaz Güney
Born	1 April 1937(1937-04-01) Adana, Turkey
Died	9 September 1984(1984-09-09) (aged 47) Paris, France
Occupation	Film director Screenwriter Actor
Years active	1958 - 1983

Yılmaz Güney, (born Yılmaz Pütün, 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Kurdish film director, scenarist, novelist and actor from Turkey. Many of his works are devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey.

Biography

Yılmaz Güney was born in 1937 in the Yenice county of Adana. His father was a Zaza-Kurd from Siverek, and his mother was a Kurmanci-Kurd from Varto, Turkey. He described himself as an "assimilated Kurd".　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 poor, which formed a strong background for his future works which generally focused on a realistic portrayal of down and out people in 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. Yılmaz Güney was the most popular name to emerge from the Young Turkish Cinema, 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 problems for 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 Turkey's 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 for shooting a judge Sefa Mutlu, the public prosecutor of Yumurtalık district in Adana Province, to death in a night club as a result of a drunken row 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.

"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.

Exile and death

Yılmaz Güney died of gastric cancer in 1984, in Paris, France.

Filmography

See also: List of Turkish films

Actor

Zavallılar (1975) Arkadaş/' (1974) Endişe (1974) Ağıt (1972) Sahtekar (1972) Baba (1971) Çirkin ve Cesur (1971) İbret (1971) Kaçaklar (1971) Namus ve Silah (1971) Umutsuzlar (1971) Vurguncular (1971) Canlı Hedef (1970) Çifte Yürekli (1970) İmzam Kanla Yazılır (1970) Kanımın Son Damlasına Kadar (1970) Onu Allah Affetsin (1970) Piyade Osman (1970) Sevgili Muhafızım (1970) Şeytan Kayaları (1970) Son Kızgın Adam (1970) Umut (1970) Yedi Belalılar (1970) Zeyno (1970) Aç Kurtlar (1969) Belanın Yedi Türlüsü (1969) Bin Defa Ölürüm (1969) Bir Çirkin Adam (1969) Çifte Tabancalı Kabadayı (1969) Güney Ölüm Saçıyor (1969) Kan Su Gibi Akacak (1969) Kurşunların Kanunu (1969) Aslan Bey(1968) Azrail Benim (1968) Beyoğlu Canavarı (1968) Can Pazarı (1968)

Kardeşim Benim (1968) Kargacı Halil (1968) Marmara Hasan (1968) Öldürmek Hakkımdır (1968) Pire Nuri (1968) Seyyit Han (1968) At hırsızı Banus (1967) Balatlı Arif (1967) Bana Kurşun İşlemez (1967) Benim Adım Kerim (1967) Büyük Cellatlar (1967) Çirkin Kral Affetmez (1967) Eşkiya Celladı (1967) İnce Cumali (1967) Kızılırmak-Karakoyun (1967) Kozanoğlu (1967) Kuduz Recep (1967) Kurbanlık Katil (1967) Şeytanın Oğlu (1967) Anası Yiğit Doğurmuş (1966) Arslanların Dönüşü (1966) At Avrat Silah (1966) Bomba Kemal (1966) Çirkin Kral (1966) Esrefpaşalı (1966) Hudutların Kanunu (1966) Kibar Haydut (1966) Kovboy Ali (1966) Silahların Kanunu (1966 Tilki Selim (1966) Ve Silahlara Veda (1966) Yedi Dağın Aslanı (1966) Yiğit Yaralı ÖlÜr (1966) Ben Öldükçe Yaşarım (1965) Beyaz Atlı Adam (1965) Dağların Oğlu (1965) Davudo (1965)

Gönül Kuşu (1965) Haracıma Dokunma (1965) Kahreden Kurşun (1965) Kan Gövdeyi Götürdü (1965) Kanlı Buğday (1965) Kasımpaşalı (1965) Kasımpaşalı Recep (1965) Konyakçı (1965) Korkusuzlar (1965) Krallar Kralı (1965) Sayılı Kabadayılar (1965) Silaha Yeminliydim (1965) Sokakta Kan Vardı (1965) Tehlikeli Adam (1965) Torpido Yılmaz (1965) Üçünüzü de Mıhlarım (1965) Yaralı Kartal (1965) Halime'den Mektup Var (1964) Her Gün Ölmektense (1964) Kamalı Zeybek (1964) Kara Şahin (1964) Kocaoğlan (1964) Koçero (1964) Mor Defter (1964) On korkusuz Adam (1964) Prangasız Mahkumlar (1964) Zımba Gibi Delikanlı (1964) İkisi de Cesurdu (1963) Dolandırıcılar Şahı (1961) Tatlı Bela (1961) Tütün Zamanı (1959) Alageyik (1958) Bu Vatanın Çocukları (1958)

Director

Duvar (1983) Yol (1982) Düşman (1979) Sürü (1978) Zavallılar (1975) Arkadaş (1974) ([1]) Endişe (1974) Ağıt (1972) Acı (1971)

Baba (1971) ([2]) İbret (1971) Kaçaklar (1971) Umutsuzlar (1971) Vurguncular (1971) Yarın Son Gündür (1971) Canlı Hedef (1970) Piyade Osman (1970)

Umut (1970) Aç Kurtlar (1969) Bir Çirkin Adam (1969) Pire Nuri (1968) Seyyit Han (1968) Bana Kurşun İşlemez (1967) Benim Adım Kerim (1967) At Avrat Silah (1966)

See also

• List of Turkish film directors

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