YOL – The Full Version @ Movies that Matter Festival in Den Haag
Meet Donat Keusch
YOL – The Full Version
Yılmaz Güney, Şerif Gören
Monumental piece of cinema about six Kurdish and Turkish prisoners who try to get their life back on track during a week’s leave from prison. Written by Kurdish director Yılmaz Güney while he was in prison himself. Now, Yol is restored and finally completed.
Yol is the rare film whose production may have been more dramatic than its story. Written while Kurdish director Yılmaz Güney was imprisoned by Turkey’s military junta, Yol was ultimately finished after Güney escaped prison and went into exile. Banned in Turkey until 1999 due to its depiction of Kurdish culture, this story of how five prisoners spent their week of leave won the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.
This newly produced ‘full’ version of the film, YOL – The Full Version, restores the sixth story that was in Güney’s original script, finally realising the late filmmaker’s vision for this legendary work of cinema.
Take on Classics:
introduction by Gökhan Yeter and Donat Keusch
Prior to the gripping screening of YOL – The Full Version, moderator Gökhan Yeter takes us into a conversation with producer Donat Keusch and our guest of honour Ahmet Boyacıoğlu. Hear firsthand from Keusch, who has worked with Yılmaz Güney, how the film came about and his personal experiences with Güney.
Donat Keusch discovered the groundbreaking film SÜRÜ (The Herd) in 1979, during a cold Berlin Film Festival, and defied conventional sales channels to secure its distribution. Keusch’s collaboration with Yılmaz Güney’s Güney Filmcilik continued, leading to the successful release of DÜŞMAN (The Enemy) and the monumental project “BAYRAM“. Güney and Keusch’s partnership reached its pinnacle with YOL, a Cannes Film Festival triumph, earning Güney the prestigious Golden Palm in 1982.
Language: English