The Impact of Neo-Realism in Turkish Intellectual Cinema: The Cases of Y?lmaz Güney and Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Abstract

Italian neo-realism is the main source of inspiration for many film movements and auteur filmmakers trying to construct a “counter-hegemonic” film language against the dominant cinematic practices. This paper investigates the impact of neo-realism upon the early films of Y?lmaz Güney and Nuri Bilge Ceylan. This impact is certainly not monolithic and one dimensional, and like the neorealist movement itself, it is multifaceted and colorful After the coup d’Etat of 1960, social realist filmmakers had already introduced neorealism to Turkish film industry but it took another ten years for a mature and authentic realist political film language to develop. So Y?lmaz Güney was among the first filmmakers in Turkey who combined documentary verism and political editing. Some twenty years later, Nuri Bilge Ceylan chose to adopt another “realist” position combining minimalism with a very personal and idiosyncratic film language.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n9p181