Golden Boll honors Turkish movie legends
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Emrah Guler
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 06, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - As the southern city of Adana readies for the upcoming Golden Boll Film Festival, which will show 190 films, the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review profiles the recipients of two of the festival’s honorary awards, actress Filiz Akın and director Ömer Lütfi Akad, both living legends of Turkish cinema.
As the movie season heads toward hibernation in the coming months, moviegoers in the southern city of Adana will get an ample dose of cinema from the approaching Altın Koza (Golden Boll) Film Festival.
The festival, held for the 16th time in four decades, will feature a diverse selection of 190 movies from Turkey and around the world. Check back throughout next week for the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s coverage of the Altın Koza Film Festival, which kicks off this Monday.
Today, Daily News profiles two of the biggest names in Turkish cinema to be honored at the festival: one actress, Filiz Akın, and one director, Ömer Lütfi Akad, both of whom can be called a part of living history, having left their marks on Turkish cinema for decades.
An icon of elegance, beauty, and grace under pressure for half a century, Filiz Akın still continues to capture the collective conscious of people in Turkey. Akın’s status as a legendary actress was solidified with roles in more than 120 movies over the most prolific period of Turkish cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, making her one of the "four leaves of the clover" Ğ the four leading actresses of the period, who also included Türkan Şoray, Hülya Koçyiğit and Fatma Girik.
Akın’s debut film, "Akasyalar Açarken" (When Acacias are Blossoming), in 1962 and subsequent ones in the following years put her on a different pedestal from the other "three leaves," as her blond hair and "European" looks opened the way for a series of roles in which she portrayed urban women from the upper-middle class.
Akın soon proved to be a versatile actress, expanding her range with characters. In one of her later films, "Tatlı Dillim" (Sweet Talker), in 1973, she played two sisters, one coming from a village and the other an urban dweller. Even though Akın quit acting in movies in the late 1970s, her name remained a fixture through her husbands, and her battle with cancer. In her most popular days as an actress, she married director Türker İnanoğlu, and their son İlker became a famous child actor.
She later married artist Bubi Rubinstein, then diplomat Sönmez Köksal.
Having won the battle over cancer in the early 2000s, Akın devoted herself to raising awareness about cancer and other social causes, writing two books on overcoming her disease. Her final work as an actress was in the TV series "Geçmiş Bahar Mimozaları" (Mimosas of Last Spring), two decades ago. Interestingly, while her first film was titled "When Acacias are Blossoming," the title of her final work reminisced about flowers from the same family. Akın won the Antalya Film Festival’s Golden Orange for best actress in 1971 for her role in "Ankara Ekspresi" (Ankara Express).
Ömer Lütfi Akad, an icon in Turkish cinema
Nearly a century old, director and writer Ömer Lütfi Akad can rightfully be called a living testament to Turkish cinema. Even though he quit making movies and transitioned to TV in the late 1970s, Akad was a pioneer in Turkish cinema in many respects.
Unlike many filmmakers of his generation, Akad tried his hand at almost everything in the movie business long before his directorial debut in 1948. He had been a movie and theater critic, and later a production designer, before he adapted novelist Halide Edip Adıvar’s "Vurun Kahpeye" (Strike the Whore) for the screen.
In a career-spanning three decades, Akad directed more than 60 films, and wrote the scripts for more than 40. He could hardly be called an auteur as he experimented with various genres, including science fiction ("Görünmeyen Adam Istanbul’da," or The Invisible Man in Istanbul), crime/detective ("Kanun Namına," or In the Name of the Law), action ("Hudutların Kanunu," or Border Law), musical ("Çalsın Sazlar Oynasın Kızlar," or Let the Music Play and the Girls Dance), comedy ("Cilalı İbo’nun Çilesi," or Cilalı Ibo’s Ordeal), romance ("Vesikalı Yarim," or My Working Girl), and even documentary ("Tanrı’nın Bağışı Orman," or God’s Gift Forest).
Akad’s experimental biography, "Işıkla Karanlık Arasında" (Between Light and Darkness), is a true gem on the informal history of Turkish cinema. His trilogy of masterpieces filmed in the early 1970s gives a good taste of his style: "Gelin" (The Bride), "Düğün" (The Wedding) and "Diyet" (Blood Money). Akad has won four Golden Oranges, one for best director with "Düğün" in 1974, and an honorary award in 1983.
The festival, held for the 16th time in four decades, will feature a diverse selection of 190 movies from Turkey and around the world. Check back throughout next week for the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review’s coverage of the Altın Koza Film Festival, which kicks off this Monday.
Today, Daily News profiles two of the biggest names in Turkish cinema to be honored at the festival: one actress, Filiz Akın, and one director, Ömer Lütfi Akad, both of whom can be called a part of living history, having left their marks on Turkish cinema for decades.
An icon of elegance, beauty, and grace under pressure for half a century, Filiz Akın still continues to capture the collective conscious of people in Turkey. Akın’s status as a legendary actress was solidified with roles in more than 120 movies over the most prolific period of Turkish cinema in the 1960s and 1970s, making her one of the "four leaves of the clover" Ğ the four leading actresses of the period, who also included Türkan Şoray, Hülya Koçyiğit and Fatma Girik.
Akın’s debut film, "Akasyalar Açarken" (When Acacias are Blossoming), in 1962 and subsequent ones in the following years put her on a different pedestal from the other "three leaves," as her blond hair and "European" looks opened the way for a series of roles in which she portrayed urban women from the upper-middle class.
Akın soon proved to be a versatile actress, expanding her range with characters. In one of her later films, "Tatlı Dillim" (Sweet Talker), in 1973, she played two sisters, one coming from a village and the other an urban dweller. Even though Akın quit acting in movies in the late 1970s, her name remained a fixture through her husbands, and her battle with cancer. In her most popular days as an actress, she married director Türker İnanoğlu, and their son İlker became a famous child actor.
She later married artist Bubi Rubinstein, then diplomat Sönmez Köksal.
Having won the battle over cancer in the early 2000s, Akın devoted herself to raising awareness about cancer and other social causes, writing two books on overcoming her disease. Her final work as an actress was in the TV series "Geçmiş Bahar Mimozaları" (Mimosas of Last Spring), two decades ago. Interestingly, while her first film was titled "When Acacias are Blossoming," the title of her final work reminisced about flowers from the same family. Akın won the Antalya Film Festival’s Golden Orange for best actress in 1971 for her role in "Ankara Ekspresi" (Ankara Express).
Ömer Lütfi Akad, an icon in Turkish cinema
Nearly a century old, director and writer Ömer Lütfi Akad can rightfully be called a living testament to Turkish cinema. Even though he quit making movies and transitioned to TV in the late 1970s, Akad was a pioneer in Turkish cinema in many respects.
Unlike many filmmakers of his generation, Akad tried his hand at almost everything in the movie business long before his directorial debut in 1948. He had been a movie and theater critic, and later a production designer, before he adapted novelist Halide Edip Adıvar’s "Vurun Kahpeye" (Strike the Whore) for the screen.
In a career-spanning three decades, Akad directed more than 60 films, and wrote the scripts for more than 40. He could hardly be called an auteur as he experimented with various genres, including science fiction ("Görünmeyen Adam Istanbul’da," or The Invisible Man in Istanbul), crime/detective ("Kanun Namına," or In the Name of the Law), action ("Hudutların Kanunu," or Border Law), musical ("Çalsın Sazlar Oynasın Kızlar," or Let the Music Play and the Girls Dance), comedy ("Cilalı İbo’nun Çilesi," or Cilalı Ibo’s Ordeal), romance ("Vesikalı Yarim," or My Working Girl), and even documentary ("Tanrı’nın Bağışı Orman," or God’s Gift Forest).
Akad’s experimental biography, "Işıkla Karanlık Arasında" (Between Light and Darkness), is a true gem on the informal history of Turkish cinema. His trilogy of masterpieces filmed in the early 1970s gives a good taste of his style: "Gelin" (The Bride), "Düğün" (The Wedding) and "Diyet" (Blood Money). Akad has won four Golden Oranges, one for best director with "Düğün" in 1974, and an honorary award in 1983.