Cinema director, scenarist, producer (B. 18th June 1944,
Ankara – D. 12th May 2005, Istanbul). He started his education in Istanbul
Kızıltoprak and continued in Robert College and Kabataş Erkek High School.
After that, he went to Paris for higher education. He took the education of
social sciences, journalism and cinema. He studied for master degree on the
history of cinema in the University of Sorbonne. He attracted attention with
the short movies he shot in this period and he received some awards. He worked
as an assistant director in the movie L'Homme
qui mérite (1968, The Man Who Lies) of Alain Robbe Grillet and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) of Bryan
Forbes.
After returning
to Turkey in 1971, he shot documentaries and commercial films for a while. He
realized his first full-length film Yatık
Emine in 1974, beyond the
conditions of Yeşilçam. The film adapted from a story of Refik Halid Karay took
attention with its plain expression and understated sensitiveness. After that,
Kavur returned back to commercial films and shot Yusuf ile Kenan in 1979, which was a movie about the lives of
destitute children in Istanbul. Ah
Güzel İstanbul (1981) that was adapted from a story of Füruzan to
the screenplay and Kırık Bir Aşk Hikâyesi
(1981), of which the story was written by Selim İleri, were productions shaping
the measurable and proper cinema of Kavur. The movie Göl, which he shot from the scenario of İleri in 1982, was a
different trial in the Turkish cinema with the suspense elements it contained.
In 1985, he
focused on the pursuit of love of small people in Amansız Yol, of which he prepared the scenario together with Barış
Pirhasan and which had the influence of the German cinema director Wim Wenders.
In the movie Körebe, of which he
wrote the scenario again with Pirhasan in the same year, he drew the impressive
image of the city life after 1980, by starting from the story of a lonely woman
searching for her daughter who was kidnapped. Anayurt Oteli, which he adapted from a novel of Yusuf Atılgan in 1987,
was one of the most successful movies produced by the Turkish cinema in that period.
The movie, which represented the internal stress of a person and the stability
of the province life in an atmosphere of perturbation just like a suspense
movie, took intention with its plain but deep expression. Kavur put into the
screen the process of internal feud and self-knowledge of a director in Gece Yolculuğu in 1988. Gizli Yüz, which was shot in 1991 an d based on one of the stories of the novel Kara Kitap of Orhan Pamuk, was accepted
as one of the masterpieces of the Turkish cinema. The movie Akrebin Yolculuğu, which was criticized
by saying that Kavur “repeated himself” in 1996, was accepted into the part named
“Un certain Regard” of the Cannes Film Festival.
Kavur received the awards of the best
director, the best movie and the best scenario with the movies Kırık Bir Aşk Hikâyesi, Anayurt Oteli, Gece Yolculuğu, Akrebin Yolculuğu, Gizli Yüz and Karşılaşma in the Antalya Altın
Portakal Film Festival. Yusuf ile Kenan
won the grand award in the Milan Children's Film Competition in 1980, Anayurt Oteli won the award of the
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) in the Venice Film Festival
in 1987, the award of the best movie and the best male actor, together with
Macit Koper, in the Nantes Three Continent Film Festival in 1987 and the third
prize in the Valencia Film Festival. Amansız
Yol and Anayurt Oteli came
first in the section of Turkish Cinema competition of the International Cinema
Days in Istanbul.
WORKS:
Yatık
Emine (1974), Yusuf
ile Kenan (1979), Ah Güzel Istanbul
(1981), Kırık Bir Aşk Hikâyesi
(1981), Göl (1982), Amansız Yol (1985), Körebe (1985), Anayurt Oteli
(1987), Gece Yolculuğu (1987), Gizli Yüz (1991), Aşk Üzerine Söylenmemiş Her şey (1995), Akrebin Yolculuğu (1996), Melekler
Evi (2000), Karşılaşma (2002), Beybaba (2003), Patroniçe (2004), Beş Kollu
Avize (2004).