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1971- Production increases up to 265 features. Arzu Okay, Tarik Akan
and Murat Soydan are the new faces of the year while actress Lale Oraloglu and
actor Fikret Hakan direct their first films. Metin Erksan passes to musical
melodramas, staring top singer Emel Sayin, but manages to emphasis his strong
and personal filmic flair and taste despite trite plots. Lütfi Akad also follows
the popular trend directing star singer Zeki Müren in Rüya Gibi (Like A Dream)
and folk singer and composer Orhan Gencebay in Bir Teselli Ver (Give me Confort).
Although being the first attempt at a "genre" later on known as "arabesque",
Bir Teselli Ver (Give me Confort) ends as a box-office disappointment.
Süreyya Duru's fairy tale Keloglan becomes a nation-wide success and Yilmaz
Güney, with Agit (Elegy), Aci (Pain) and Umutsuzlar (The Hopeless Ones) brings
new material to his mature and poetical style. Agit (Elegy), the tragic story
of a gang of smugglers, succeeds in entering the Venice Film Festival and Baba
(Father), aimed at a popular audience, ends as one of the year's top grossers.
In Milano, at "Children's Film Festival", Ülkü Erakalin's Afacan
Küçük Serseri (Afacan The Little Tramp) wins the first prize.
1972- With 299 features produced during the year the Turkish cinema
breaks all its past records. Among them 158 are in color.
A new young actor, Serdar Gökhan, starts his career; star actress Türkân Soray
directs her first film, Dönüs (The Come-back), showing a professional quality;
Metin Erksan gives a fairy-tale, Keloglan Can Kiz (Keloglan and The Girl Can);
Yücel Çakmakli, theorician of the "national cinema", concretises his
Islamic approach in Çile (Ordeal) and Zehra. Meanwhile Melih Gülgen opens new
horizons to the erotic/action cinema with Parçala Behçet (Tear Them to Pieces,
Behçet) and actor Behçet Nacar becomes the leading figure of the genre.
Utanç (Shame), directed by Atif Yilmaz, takes into consideration the problem
of women pressured by social rules; Lütfi Akad, with Irmak (The River) and Gökçe
Çiçek (Gökçe, The Flower), takes a close look at rural traditions and old costums.
Both works are first examples of a new approach. And, following his Ince Cumali,
Yilmaz Duru signs his best film with Kara Dogan (Dark Dogan).
1974- 189 features were produced during the year with only 6 of them
in black and white.
The new directors are Ömer Kavur and Tunç Okan, the year's new young actress
Gülsen Bubikoglu and Kemal Sunal starts as a promising comedian.
The Turkish film workers gathers in newly organised unions, thus Nazif Tastepe
is put at the head of the "Türk Film Iscileri Sendikasi" (Union of
the Turkish Film Workers) and Serif Gören is elected as President of "Film-Sen,
Türkiye Film Emekçileri Sendikasi " (Union of Turkey's Film Laborers).
Director Oksal Pekmezoglu starts a new trend with "Bes tavuk bir horoz"
(Five chickens, one rooster) adapted from an Italian comedy staring Lando Buzzanca.
Such new trend of erotic comedies will become, in the near future, one of the
main reasons of the forthcoming crisis.
Tunç Okan, a former action pictures star, directs his first film in Sweden
and by relating, with a good mixture of realism and blackhumor, the adventures
of a group of Turkish workers trying to illegaly enter into a foreign country
signs with Otobüs (The Bus) an exciting film. The year's best feature bears
the signature of Serif Gören who, following a script by Yilmaz Güney, gives
in Endise (Anxiety) a vivid picture of the struggle between coton workers and
their landlord mixing it with a drama centered around a vendetta. Another first
film, Ömer Kavur's Yatik Emine (Emine, The Leaning One), relates the story,
set in the years of World War I, of a prostitute exiled in a small town.
Lütfi Akad completes with Diyet (Blood Money) his trilogy based on internal
migration (Dügün/The Wedding; Gelin/The Bride). Süreyya Duru, a purely commercial
director, reaches unexpected heights with Bedrana and Atif Yilmaz shoots the
remaining parts of Zavallilar (The Miserables), started by Yilmaz Güney. Although
directed by two different cinematographers the films achieves a startling unity
of style and intentions.
 Meanwhile
Yilmaz Güney, following his Umut (Hope), opens with Arkadas (Friend) a new era.
In the general panorama of 1974's Turkey the film, dealing with social contradictions
and oppositions, open to all discussions and controversies remains, with its
mature style, freshness and warmth a milestone in the history of the contemporary
Turkish cinema.
Furthermore by being released in theaters previously devoted only to foreign
movies Arkadas also break a tradition reaching a different category of moviegoers
and ending as a box-office champion.
The Turkish cinema gained also attention in several foreign countries and international
film festivals: a "Turkish Film Retrospective", organised in Paris
by the French Cinématheque, included Yilmaz Güney's Agit (Elegy), Muhsin Ertugrul's
Bir Millet Uyaniyor (A Nation Awakens), Lütfi Akad's Dügün (The Wedding) and
Feyzi Tuna's Kizgin Toprak (Hot Land).
Kizgin Toprak (Hot Land) took also part, in Tashkent in the "Asian and
African Countries Film Festival" and actress Fatma Girik was awarded with
a "special prize" by the Women's Committee for her part in the said
film.
Süreyya Duru's Bedrana won the CIDALC award at the Karlovy Vary festival and
at the 20 th San Remo Film Festival Erkan Yücel had the Best Actor award for
his part in Endise (Anxiety) .
Tunç Okan's Otobüs (The Bus) brings several international awards of the Turkish
cinema: at the Taormina Film Festival Okan's opus gets the "Golden Charybe",
in Karlovy Vary the Art and Experimental Cinema's International Award as well
as the Don Quixote award assigned by the Film Clubs Federation. Otobüs (The
Bus) also wins, in Strasbourg, the award of the Human Rights Film Festival and
the Santarem Film Festival brings two more awards, the Best Film award and the
special award assigned by the film critics.
1975- 225 features are produced all in color thus puting an end to the
black and white era.
A new actress is introduced to the Turkish screen, Müjde Ar; star actors Ayhan
Isik and Fikret Hakan enters into production; Ertem Egilmez's comedy Hababam
Sinifi (The Rascals' Class) and its sequels hits the box-office.
The year's popular trend leans on erotic comedies and Nazmi Özer's Civciv Çikacak
Kus Çikacak (Will It be A Chick or A Bird) becomes a top-grosser.
Based on some of Yilmaz Güney's scripts, Temel Gürsu's Izin (Permission) and
Bilge Olgaç's Bir Gün Mutlaka (One Day for Sure) ranks as partly successful
works. Intended as a realistical cop story Melih Gülgen's Cemil misses its aim
through actor Cüneyt Arkin's interference.
The year's best film is Süreyya Duru's Kara Çarsafli Gelin (The Black Veiled
Bride).
In Paris the "Association Françaises des Cinemas d'Art et d'Essai"
(French Association of Art and Experimental cinemas) organises a Turkish Film
Week and Yilmaz Güney's Arkadas (Friend), Atif Yilmaz's Kuma (The Second Wife/
The Concubine), Yilmaz Güney's Umut (Hope), Serif Gören's Endise (Anxiety),
Ömer Kavur's Yatik Emine (Emine, The Leaning One) and shorts such as Bebek (The
Baby), Yollar Boyunca Türkiye (Turkey Across The Roads), directed by Cengiz
Tacer and Sabahattin Eyüboglu's Karagöz'ün Dünyasi (Karagöz's World) are presented
in a parisian theater.
In Paris, again, during the "8 th Short Films Festival" organised
by the European Union of Cinema and TV workers, Behlül Dal's Günesin Battigi
Yer (The Place Where The Sun Sets) wins a special award of honor.
Meanwhile.... the "Türk Filmciler Dernegi" (Association of Turkish
Filmmakers) awards 43 film artists having completed their 25 years in the field
with a certificate of honor; at the "4 th Yarimca Art Festival", held
in Izmit ,Yilmaz Güney's Arkadas (Friend) is awarded Best Film and Süreyya Duru's
Bedrana Second Best Film.
Two Turkish features are awarded abroad: Bizim Aile (Our Family), directed
by Ergin Orbey, wins the special prize assigned by the "Uzbek Socialist
Republic's Workers Confederation" at the "Tashkent Film Festival"
and, in Moscow, Ali Özgentürk's documentary short Yasak (Forbiden) gets a Silver
Medal.
1977- 124 features are produced. Korhan Yurtsever and Ümit Efekan directs
their first film.
The Ministry of Culture's Cinema Office enters into activity. Metin Erksan
makes a comeback to the screen with Sensiz Yasayamam (I can't Live Without You)
the story of a young woman who hires a killer to murder her. Sensiz Yasayamam
(I can't Live Without You) remains, so far, Erksan's last cinematographical
work.
 Young
director Korhan Yurtsever signs with Firat'in Cinleri (The Spirits of Euphrates),
adapted from a short story by Osman Sahin, an interesting first film while Süreyya
Duru centers is Günesli Bataklik (The Sunny Swamp) around the feud between workers
and big holdings and Atif Yilmaz, adapting a novel by Cengiz Aytmatov, gives
with Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim (The Red Scarf) a human dimention to the conflict
between love and labor. The film, directed with warmth and sensitivity, leans
also on the apt acting of Kadir Inanir, Türkân Soray and Ahmet Mekin.
1978- 126 features are produced during the year. A new actor, Bulut
Aras, and a new director, Erden Kiral, enters into the film world.
Action pictures follows the increase of erotic comedies and Cüneyt Arkin rises
as the number one star of the action or gang films. Moreover, following the
trend of the martial arts epics, by now very popular in the market, Arkin creates
his own kind of super-hero myth. In the meantime singers such as Ferdi Tayfur,
Ibrahim Tatlises and Orhan Gencebay creates a sort of "actorsinger"
supremacy enhancing the so-called "arabesque" style of folk-singing.
Ahmet Taner Kislali, Minister of Culture and Tourism, shows an interest toward
the film industry passing a law on "Social/ Security". And Semih Servidal
is elected President of the newly formed "Türkiye Film Isçileri Sendikasi"
(Turkish Union of Film Workers).
Sultan, from a script Yavuz Turgul, emerges as Kartal Tibet's leading actor
turned director, best film. Erden Kiral's Kanal (The Canal), based on the true
story of a public officer fighting against landowners, stands out as an honest
and frank picture while Yavuz Özkan, directing Maden (The Mine), signs one of
the year's best film with his rendering, as a first example of political cinema,
of the crude struggle between coal-mine workers and mining companies.
Sürü (The Herd), directed by Zeki Ökten from a script by Yilmaz Güney, emerges
as the most important film of the period. Starting in the barren lands of Anatolia
and ending in the turmoil of a big city (Ankara) this tragic story of a migration
reaches, through an impressive narration, the eights of a truly competent collective
work. Sürü (The Herd) thus stands as an example of national cinema reaching,
by its human appeal, universal standarts and dimentions.
Muhsin Ertugrul, Baha Gelenbevi and Bedia Muvahhit are awarded with a medal
and a certificate of honor, for services rendered of the Turkish cinema, by
the "Association of Filmmakers".
A Turkish film Week is held in Bulgaria with the participation of Atif Yilmaz's
Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim (The Red Scarf), Feyzi Tuna's Kizgin Toprak (Hot Land),
Süreyya Duru's Kara Çarsafli Gelin (The Dark Veiled Bride) and Zeki Ökten's
Kapical Krali (The King of the Porters).
At the "Tashkent Film Festival" Türkan Soray is awarded "best
actress" for her part in Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalim (The Red Scarf) and Kara
Çarsafli Gelin (The Dark Veiled Bride) gets the special award of the Syndicates'Union
at Karlovy Vary.
1979- 195 features are produced. The soft-core cinema reaches its peak
with a total of 131 film passing to hard-core with Naki Yurter's Öyle Bir Kadin
ki (She's Such A Woman) while soft-core actress Zerrin Egeliler breaks a world
record by acting, during the year, in 37 erotic vehicles.
Actor Tuncel Kurtiz directs in Sweden a film dealing with the Turkish workers,
Gül Hasan (Hasan the Rose), and Ali Özgentürk signs his first feature, Hazal,
the dramatic story of a peasant woman who, in Eastern Anatolia, marries by proxy.
Erden Kiral gives with Bereketli Topraklar Üzerinde (On Fertile Lands) the
best adaptation of an Orhan Kemal's novel; Ömer Kavur signs one of the year's
best film with Yusuf ile Kenan (Yusuf and Kenan) the poignant and realistic
story of the friendship between two childrens lost in a big city: Serif Gören
follows the events in the life of a Turkish woman working in Germany (Almanya
Aci Vatan/German, Bitter Homeland), Yavuz Özkan deals with a railroad strike
(Demiryolu/ Railroad) and Atif Yilmaz gives an example of experimental cinema
by strikingly directing Adak (The Vow) based on the true story of a peasant
who sacrifices his 2,5 years old son.
Zeki Ökten's Düsman (The Enemy), from a script by Yilmaz Güney, deals with
a contemporary social problem and actor Aytaç Arman, playing the part of Ismail
the worker who, at first, gets abused until he starts to achieve his own consciousness,
gives a top performance. Apart from its style Düsman (The Enemy) emerges also
as a model in acting and actor's direction.
Protesting the interference of the Board of Censors baning some films and heavily
cuting others the producers entering the 16th Antalya Film Festival draw back
their entries so that only short films participates and Tahtaci Fatma (Fatma,
the Wood-worker) wins the "Best short film" award.
A first cartoon film festival, the "Nasreddin Hoca Çizgi Filmleri Yarismasi"
(Nasreddin Hodja Cartoon Films Contest), is organised by the Ministry of Culture
with awards going to:
- First prize: Hoca ve Hirsizlar (The Hodja and the Thieves), directed
by Tunç Izberk and Tonguç Yasar's Suçlu Kim (Who's Guilty).
- Second prize: Ates Benice.
- Third prize: Emre Senem.
During the year the Turkish cinema, present at several international festivals,
suceeds in becoming a center of attention and in gaining worldwide appeal mainly
through Sürü (The Herd).
At the 32nd Locarno Film Festival Sürü (The Herd) is awarded with the "Golden
Leopar", as best film, and actress Melike Demirag shares with Rebecca Horn
the "Best actress" award. As the producer and scriptwriter of the
film Yilmaz Güney obtains the festival's "special award".
Sürü (The Herd) is a winner in Berlin, at the 29th Film Festival, with awards
from the "International Protestant film Jury" and the "Catholic
Film Organization". Ökten's film gets a further award, as best film, during
the "International Film Contest" organised by the Belgian Royal Film
Archive.
Meanwhile Süha Arin's Tahtaci Fatma (Fatma, The Woodworker) gets a First Prize
at the 3rd Balkan Film Festival and Özcan Arca's Üç Bölümlük Kisa Film (A Short
Film in Three Parts) obtains the award given by the Federal German Ministery
of Youth, Family and Health in the course of the 25th Oberhausen Short Films
Festival.
1980- Feature films production goes down to 68. Two new directors signs
their first film: Sinan Çetin (Bir Günün Hikayesi/ The Story of A Day) and Sahin
Gök (Kurban Oldugum/ Let me be A Victim).
Although carrying all the amateurism of a "first film" Sinan Çetin's
work shows signs of a filmic personality while Kartal Tibet, in adapting Aziz
Nesin's Zübük (The Swindler), gives the best of himself in a satirical comedy
who not only entertains but also forces the audience to think and ponder once
confronted with The Swingler, an uncultured but shrewd and nasty small-town
politician.
The year's best film comes from Atif Yilmaz two, in Talihli Amele (The Lucky
Workman), tells the pityful story of a poor bricklayer who, heralded and abused
as an advertisement star, reaches a wealthy status but ends as a lunatic.The
plot gives to Atif Yilmaz the opportunity of taking a deep look at the world
of advertising and all its schemes.
The 17th Antalya Film Festival is postponed due to the military "coup"
of September 12.
The Cinema Office of the Ministry of Culture organises a "National Cinema
Congress" and awards with a certificate a number of cinema people having
accomplished their 25 years in the field.
During the year the Turkish cinema gathers further appreciations achievements
abroad: Sürü (The Herd) runs for 8 weeks in Zürich and 7 in Basle. At the London
Film Festival Ökten's film is awarded "best film" among 93 participating
ones; at the Rotterdam Festival an enquiry made among film critics ranks it
aong the "three best ones" and the 10th International Festival awards
it as "best film".
At the 30th Berlin Film Festival Zeki Ökten's Düsman (The Enemy) gets the jury's
special screenplay award as well as the "grand prix" of the International
Catholic Film Office.
Ali Özgentürk's Hazal brings five international awards
to the Turkish cinema:
- First prize at the Prades Film Festival,
- "Grand Prix" at the San Sebastian Film Festival,
- The "Golden Ducat" at the 20th Manheim International Film Festival
plus awards from the "Catholic Jury" and the People's Jury.
- Lahey Film Festival's award.
Another prize-winner is Erden Kiral's Bereketli Topraklar Üzerinde (On Fertile
Lands) with:
- The Jury's special award and the award assigned by the French Union of art
and experimental cinemas at the International Nantes Film Festival
- Finally Ömer Kavur's Yusuf ile Kenan (Yusuf and Kenan) gets the "Grand
Prix" at the International Film Fair.
In Corsica, at the 2nd Film Festival of Mediterranean Cultures Hakkâri'de Bir
Mevsim (A Season in Hakkâri) won the "best film" award.
Furthermore, Ali Özgentürk's At (The Horse) was awarded "best film"
at the Italian 1983 Lecce International Film Festival and Serif Gören's Derman
won the Jury's special award in Valencia.
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