Documentary 'The Legend of the Ugly King' about Yılmaz Güney Awarded in Greece

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Awards in documentary festival organized for third time this year on Castellorizo island in Greece were announced on September 2, Sunday.

Directed by Mila Turajliç from Serbia, The Other Side of Everything won the best Socio-Political Documentary Award in the festival.

The best Historical Documentary Award of the festival, which was realized from August 26 to September 2, went to The Legend of the Ugly King, directed by Kurdish origin born in Germany Hüseyin Tabak.

The mansion awards in the festival went to the Living with Walls that draws attention to three walls including the one the separates Cyprus’ capital Nicosia in the world, Cambodian Textiles that focuses on traditional silk production in Cambodia, and The Balcony – Memories of the Occupation that once again underlines the Nazis’ actions in Greece.

About Yılmaz Güney

Yılmaz Güney (born Yılmaz Pütün, 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Zaza Kurdish film director, scenarist, novelist, and actor, who produced movies in Turkish. 

Many of his works were devoted to the plight of ordinary, working class people in Turkey. He was at constant odds with the Turkish government because of his portrayals of Kurdish culture, people and language in his movies. After being accused of killing a judge, something Yılmaz claimed to be innocent of, and being convicted in a controversial trial in 1974, he fled the country and later lost his citizenship.

In September 1980, Güney's works were banned by the new military junta. Güney declared, “There are only two possibilities: to fight or to give up, I chose to fight”. After escaping from prison in 1981 and fleeing to France, Güney won the Palme d'Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for his film Yol, whose director in the field was once again Şerif Gören.

It was not until 1983 that Güney resumed directing, telling a brutal tale of imprisoned children in his final film, Duvar (The Wall, 1983), made in France with the cooperation of the French government. Meanwhile, Turkey's government revoked his citizenship and a court sentenced him to twenty-two extra years in jail.

Yılmaz Güney died of gastric cancer in 1984, in Paris, France. (MT/EKN/TK)