GOLDEN BOLL PAYS TRIBUTE TO ORHAN KEMAL ON 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTH
Orhan Kemal, the well-known man of letters from Adana, is to be commemorated at the 21st International Golden Boll Film Festival on the 100th anniversary year of his birth. The Festival, which is being held by the Adana Metropolitan Municipality from 15-21 September 2014, will present a selection of films adapted from the author’s work. There will also be a parallel exhibition of film posters and stills from Orhan Kemal screen adaptations.
The 21st International Golden Boll Film Festival, which will be held by the Adana Metropolitan Municipality from 15-21 September 2014, is to commemorate the well-known author and screenwriter, Orhan Kemal, on the 100th anniversary of his birth. Kemal’s novels and short stories have inspired many a film in Turkish cinema.
In a related statement the Mayor of Adana, Hüseyin Sözlü, noted: ‘Adana has produced many world famous artists over time. Among them is the celebrated author, Orhan Kemal, who we are proud to be commemorating within the Festival this year. Orhan Kemal has a special place in Turkish literature, but he also made a significant contribution to the development of national cinema. On the one hand his work has inspired many films, while on the other he himself wrote innumerable screenplays.’
A section of the Festival screening program entitled “Orhan Kemal at 100” will be dedicated to films either written by the artist or adapted from his literary work. In addition, the “Orhan Kemal at 100 Exhibition” will be opened in the Abidin Dino Art Park on Wednesday 17 September at 18.00 with Festival guests and Orhan Kemal’s son, Işık Öğütçü, in attendance. The exhibition will be made up of posters and stills from films written by the author.
At 20.30 on the same day, there will be a screening of the Mehmet Güleryüz documentary, Sessizlerin Sesi: Orhan Kemal (Orhan Kemal: Voice of the Voiceless) at the Adana Municipal Theatre.
ORHAN KEMAL
Born on 15 September 1914 in Ceyhan, a town in the southeastern province of Adana, Orhan Kemal began making an active contribution to Turkish cinema in the 1950s, writing stories for films, as well as dialogue and screenplays. It wasn’t until the 1960s, however, that his novels and short stories were first adapted for film. The earliest Orhan Kemal screen adaptation was Suçlu (The Guilty One), directed by Atıf Yılmaz in 1960.
Orhan Kemal also shared his experience of filmmaking in a book on screenplay technique and screenwriting, which he wrote in 1963.
