Despite being hailed within Turkey as one of the great talents of the nation’s young cinema movement of the 1960s and widely known as an actor, writer, and political activist, Yilmaz Güney languished in obscurity for a key portion of his filmmaking career—largely because of the many years the director spent in prison for acts that ran afoul of the reigning political regime. Güney was first jailed for publishing communist propaganda, then for harboring anarchist students, and finally for shooting a judge. It was during his final stretch in prison that he crafted his most acclaimed screenplays before escaping in 1981 to Switzerland. Güney went on to receive the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival for Yol. He died in Paris in 1984. This survey provides a rare opportunity to see a quartet of works by this master of political cinema.

All screenings will be introduced by Professor Cemal Kafadar, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.

PLEASE NOTE: Friend and Hope will not be screening as planned due to lack of print availability. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.