One more classic Turkish film restored

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

Ömer Lütfi Akad’s 1968 film ‘Vesikalı Yarim,’ which stars Türkan Şoray and İzzet Günay, has been restored.

The Istanbul Film Festival, which will take place this year between March 30 and April 14, continues to unearth the most significant works of Turkish cinema by restoring these outstanding classics and reviving their popularity. At a special screening at Feriye Movie Theater on April 11 at 9:30 p.m., film lovers will have the opportunity to watch Ömer Lütfi Akad’s 1968 drama “Vesikalı Yarim” (My Prostitute Love), which has been the sixth classic Turkish film to be restored with the support of Groupama.

Best Film and Best Actress awards

The film, starring the “sultan” of Turkish cinema, Türkan Şoray, as well as İzzet Günay, Ayfer Feray, Selahattin İçsel, Behçet Nacar, Semih Sezerli and Aydemir Akbaş, won second prize in the Best Film Category at the 5th Antalya Film Festival. Şoray won the Best Actress Award at the same festival.

Adapted for the screen by Safa Önal from a short story by Sait Faik Absıyanık, the film is set in a tavern in Istanbul. As the magnificent beauty Sabiha is singing onstage, Halil, an ordinary married man,
can´t keep his eyes off of her and falls madly in love. This deeply moving tale is of one of the most sentimental melodramas in Turkish cinema.