Yılmaz Güney
Kurdish film director, scenarist, novelist and actor (1937–1984) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yılmaz Güney (né Pütün; 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Turkish film director of Kurdish origin, screenwriter, novelist, actor and communist political activist.[2][3][4][5] He quickly rose to prominence in the Turkish film industry. Many of his works were made from a far-left perspective and devoted to the plight of working-class people in Turkey. Güney won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982 for the film Yol (The Road) which he co-produced with Şerif Gören. He was at constant odds with the Turkish government over the portrayal of Kurdish culture, people and language.
Yılmaz Güney | |
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Born | Yılmaz Pütün (1937-04-01)1 April 1937 Yenice, Karataş, Adana, Turkey |
Died | 9 September 1984(1984-09-09) (aged 47) Paris, France |
Citizenship | Turkey (He was stripped of his Turkish citizenship in 1983 by then-president Kenan Evren)[1] |
Occupation(s) | Film director, screenwriter, actor |
Years active | 1958–1983 |
Spouses | |
Children | 2 |
After being convicted of killing judge Sefa Mutlu in 1974 (a charge which he denied[6]), Güney fled the country and was later stripped of his citizenship.[7][8] A year before his death in 1983, he co-founded the Kurdish Institute of Paris together with the Kurdish poets Cegerxwîn and Hejar among others.[9]