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"THE TEN BEST TURKISH FILMS"

THE ROAD (Yol)

 
Directed by Serif Goren
Written by Yilmaz Guney
 
Cast:  Tarik Akan, Serif Sezer, Halil Ergun, Necmettin Cobanoglu, Hikmet Celik, Tuncay Akca
 
1982, 114 minutes
 
In Turkish with English subtitles  

 

Festivals and Awards:

  • Golden Palm, Cannes Film Festival
  • FIPRESCI Award
  • Prize of the Ecumenical Jury
  • Special Mention - Cannes Film Festival
  • Best Foreign Film Award in the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics
  • Foreign Language Film of the Year by the London Critics Circle Film Awards

Synopsis:

The Road (Yol), depicts the story of what five friends, convicts in the Imrali Prison, live through during their week-long leave, due to a special permission to spend the religious festivities with their families for good conduct. Seyyit Ali, learning of his wife's infidelity, has to blood his hands for traditions' sake... Mehmet Ali, rejected by his beloved wife's family as he is thought to have left his brother-in-law to die during the robbery... Yusuf who is send back to prison because he loses his permission sheet... Mevlut, who dreams of spending his leave with his fiancée but is thwarted by her family as they never leave her alone? Omer, fallen for one of the village's beauties, Gulbahar, not knowing what to do...

 

About the Director: Serif Goren

Born in 1944 in Iskece. He started his film career as an editor, continued as assistant director. He realized his first film Anxiety in 1974. He directed more than 30 films in a decade. His greatest contribution to Turkish cinema was The Road which shared the Golden Palm in 1982 Cannes Film Festival with Missing by Costa Gavras.

Filmography:
 
Amerikali (1993)
Polizei (1989)
Yilanlarin Ocu (1986)
Sen Turkulerini Soyle (1986)
Umut Sokagi (1986)
Kurbagalar (1986)
Kan (1986)
Almanya Aci Vatan (1985)
Firar (1985)
Derman (1984)
The Road (Yol, 1982)
Hope (Umut, 1970) - Screenwriter