Yılmaz Güney Fest Awards presented

ISTANBUL - Doğan News Agency

The festival is organized in the name of late actor and director Yılmaz Güney.

The 2nd Yılmaz Güney Culture and Arts Festival Awards, given in honor of late Turkish director and actor Yılmaz Güney, were presented in a ceremony at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul April 7.

“27 years have passed since YIlmaz Güney died. It is very meaningful to me that young people are still following his path. … The festival took place in 11 provinces in the first year, and was organized in eight provinces this year. There were a total of 1,500-2,000 participants from 35 countries. Yılmaz Güney has a very unique place [in film history]; he is universal. He was also a person of struggle, a revolutionary. He was an intellectual who was sentenced to 100 years in prison and was forced to leave his country because of his thoughts. If he were alive, he would be 74 years old. He is still in people’s hearts, and this gives me great happiness,” Güney’s wife Fatoş Güney said, speaking at the award ceremony.

Festival awards were given in the categories of stories, cartoons, photographs, cinema, poetry and music. Musician Feryal Öney gave a brief concert at the ceremony.