Movie director and writer (b. 1934, İzmir - d. 11 October 2009, İstanbul). He graduated from Şişli Terakki
High School. He gave up his engineering studies at Robert
College (1953) and worked in cinema in
London. He made
a documentary film while he was doing his military service in Korea. Beginning in 1956, he
started to write about cinema in reviews such as Akis, Kim and Yön.
He published his critiques in the newspapers Yeni Sabah, Akşam
and Milliyet. He published the review Sinema in collaboration
with Nejat Özon. He started in the movie business as the assistant of the
famous director, Atıf Yılmaz (1957). He also wrote scenarios.
He started his directing career with the
movie Yasak
Aşk (Forbidden Love, 1960). He
was one of the famous personalities of movie making, not just with his movies
but also with his writing and views. After such movies as Şehirdeki Yabancı (Stranger in the City, 1963) and Gurbet
Kuşları (Birds of Exile, 1964), which are the results of his social
realistic period, he tried to maintain the concept of national cinema. He
explained his ideas about the concept of “National Cinema” in his book named Ulusal
Sinema Kavgası (The Struggle for the National Cinema, 1971) in which he
stressed the main characteristics of Turkish society that differ from the
European. He became known for his TV series, namely Aşk-ı Memnu (Forbidden Love) and won the Turkish Writers
Association Award with the movie İhtiras Fırtınas
(Storm of Passion) in 1983.
The friendship and works of Kemal Tahir
greatly influenced his intellectual development. Of the scenarios he wrote with
Kemal Tahir, only the movie Haremde Dört Kadın
(Four Women in the Harem) could be produced. All the audio and visual material
of his TV series Yorgun
Savaşçı (Tired Warrior) was
destroyed by the order of the Prime Ministry in 1983, however a full video
recording of the same movie appeared again on the Turkish Radio Television
Corporation in 1993. He produced a movie from the novel Karılar Koğuşu (The Women’s Ward) by Kemal Tahir in 1990
that told of the author’s time spent in Malatya
prison. He was among the instigators of cinema and television education at
graduate level within the framework of İstanbul Academy
of Fine Arts in 1974-75. He produced the movie “Intercessors” at the University of Wisconsin
and “The Wilderness” at Ohio Denison University
in the US.
He has given lectures at Mimar
Sinan University
continuously since 1977. His essays, of which there are more than 300, have
been published in Turkey
and abroad. Among more than 60 movies he has produced, those which have won
various awards, have been shown at festivals and performances in America, Asia,
Europe and other African countries representing Turkey are: Bir Türk’e Gönül Verdim (I Lost My Heart to a Turk, 1969), Teyzem (My Aunt, 1986), Kurtar
Beni (Save Me, 1988), Hanım (Lady, 1989), İki Yabancı (Two Strangers, 1991), Köpekler Adası (Island of Dogs, 1996).
WORKS:
Ulusal Sinema Kavgası
(The Struggle for National Cinema, 1971), Gerçeğin Değişkenliği – Kemal
Tahir (Variability of the Truth - Kemal Tahir, 2000), Doğu, Batı ve
Türkiye – 10 Yılda Nereden Başladık Nereye Geldik (East, West and Turkey
– Where Did We Start and Where Have We Come to in 10 years? 2002).
REFERENCE: Mahmut Çetin / İslam Sanatının Yeniden Teşekkülü (s.122/125, 1991), Düşlerden
Düşüncelere (Haz: İbrahim Türk (Söyleşi - 2001), Prof. Dr. Kurtuluş Kayalı /
Güncel Sorunlar Karşısında Belirgin Yaklaşımlar: Halit Refiğ ve Yılmaz Güney
(‘Yönetmenler Çerçevesinde Türk Sineması’ kitabı içinde, 2006), İhsan Işık / Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları
Ansiklopedisi (2006), Halit Refiğ Özel Sayısı (Altyazı dergisi, 9 Aralık
2009), İbrahim Türk / Halit Refiğ - Düşlerden Düşüncelere Söyleşiler (2001), Mesut
Kara / Yeşilçam Hatırası (2007), Türkiye Kültür ve Sanat 2010 Yıllığı (2010), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Sanatçılar (Türkiye Ünlüleri
Ansiklopedisi, C. 5, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).