Golden Orange Honorary Awards Announced
This year, the Honorary Awards presented to the masters of our cinema at the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival will be presented to Işıl Yücesoy, Şerif Sezer, Erdal Özyağcılar, Müjdat Gezen and Selçuk Yöntem.
The winners of this year’s Honorary Awards at the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, Turkey’s most established cinema festival, have been announced. The Honorary Awards will be presented to master artists Işıl Yücesoy, Şerif Sezer, Erdal Özyağcılar, Müjdat Gezen and Selçuk Yöntem at the festival, which will meet with moviegoers between October 5-12.
In addition to acting, the versatile diva Işıl Yücesoy, who also has the identities of a musician, producer, radio play writer and instructor, worked at the State Theaters after graduating from the Ankara State Conservatory. Yücesoy, who took part in the TRT series “Sekiz Sütuna Manşet” (1982), written by Attila İlhan, also wrote and performed in radio plays for TRT in the “Arkası Yarın” zone. She also made a name for herself with her stage work in her music career, which she started with her 45 single “Çalamazsın Mutluluğu” in 1975. The artist, who took part in the productions of “Blood Wedding” and “Three Penny Opera” on stage, was chosen as the “Best Actress” at the 6th Afife Theater Awards and the 7th Sadri Alışık Theater and Cinema Awards for her performance in the play “Küçük Adam Ne Oldu Sana.” She was chosen as the “Best Supporting Actress” at the Ankara and Golden Boll Film Festivals for her role in the film “Korkuyorum Anne” (2004), directed by Reha Erdem, one of the most original directors of our cinema and winner of many awards in addition to 4 Golden Oranges.
After completing her education at Ankara State Theaters, veteran actor Şerif Sezer took roles in the plays “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” “Gigamesh,” and “Caligula,” and stepped onto the silver screen with the Palme d’Or-winning film “Yol.” This success continued unabated in the following years: She starred in the classics of our cinema, “A Season in Hakkari” (1982), “Her Şeye Rağmen” (1987), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and earned her the “Best Actress” award at the Ankara Film Festival, as well as “Hamam” (1997), “O da Beni Seviyor” (2001), “Everything About Mustafa” (2003), “My Father and My Son” (2005), and “Deli Deli Olma” (2009). She received the “Best Actress” award from the Golden Boll and Ankara Film Festivals for her role in the film “Hamam”, the “Best Supporting Actress” award from the SİYAD and Sadri Alışık Awards for her role in the film “Everything About Mustafa”, the “Best Supporting Actress” award from the SİYAD and the “Best Actress” award from the International Istanbul Film Festival for her role in the film “Babam ve Oğlum”. On the screen, she met with the audience in the series “Asmalı Konak”, “Çemberimde Gül Oya” and “Yalı Çapkını”.
Erdal Özyağcılar, who has been performing his acting on both the theater stage, the cinema screen and television screens for years, is also a voice actor. He stepped into cinema with the film “Ölüm Tarlası” (1966) by the master director Atıf Yılmaz; He took part in the films “Çöpçüler Kralı" (1977), “Kibar Feyzo” (1978), “Sultan” (1978), “Muhsin Bey” (1987), “Yılanların Öcü” (1985) and “Züğürt Ağa” (1985). His performance in “Züğürt Ağa” brought him the “Best Supporting Actor” award at the 23rd Antalya Film Festival, and his acting in “Yılanların Öcü” earned him the “Best Supporting Actor” award at the 1986 Antalya Golden Orange Festival. The master actor, who won the hearts of television viewers with the series “Perihan Abla”, “Bizimkiler” and “Şehnaz Tango”, which became classics of the screens, showed how he could successfully appeal to viewers from different generations with his performances in the series “Yabancı Damat” and “Elveda Rumeli”. Özyağcılar, who retired from Istanbul City Theaters, continues to fascinate audiences with his acting.
Müjdat Gezen, who has been an example of diligence and determination in his sixty-year artistic career, has taken part in countless movies and theater plays since the 1960s. He became a smiling face on the screen and trained many young actors at the Istanbul University State Conservatory and the Müjdat Gezen Art Center, which he founded. The actor, who first appeared in front of the camera in 1963 with “Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz”, became known on the silver screen with the “Gırgıriye” series and played the unforgettable character Murtaza in the 1985 Orhan Kemal adaptation “Bekçi”. Gezen, who also took part in the films “Seni Seviyorum Rosa”, “Abdülhamit Düşerken” and “Yedi Kocalı Hürmüz” directed by Ezel Akay, wrote and directed the film “Esrarengiz Yönleri” (The Esrarengiz Aspects of the Life of Dictator Adolf Hitler) in 2015. The actor, known for his roles in the TV series "Hayat Bilgisi" and "Cennet Mahallesi", has also written more than 40 books in various branches.
Selçuk Yöntem, who started his acting career at the Ankara State Theater, has been the address of charismatic male roles on stage since the 70s and on the silver screen since the 90s. He stepped on stage in 1972 with a Shakespeare play called "The Comedy of Errors" and took part in many plays including "Othello", "The Wild Duck", "The Shrew", "The Epic of Keşanlı Ali" and "Uncle Vanya". He also took on the role of the plays "The Epic of Keşanlı Ali" and "A Story of Noise and Explosion". Yöntem, who took on his first role on the silver screen in 1991 with the film "The Other Side of the Water", also appeared in front of the camera in master director Zeki Demirkubuz's first film "C Block". He was chosen as the "Best Supporting Actor" by the Cinema Writers Association (SİYAD) for his role in this film. The actor, who won the same award with the 1994 film “Summer Rain”, starred alongside Ayda Aksel in “Kaçıklık Diploması” directed by Tunç Başaran in 1998. He began his successful acting career on screen in the television legend “Süper Baba” and continued in the following years with “Deli Yürek”, “Sıcak Saatler”, “Şaşıfelek Çıkmazı”, “Kurtlar Vadisi” and finally “Aşk-ı Memnu”. He also continued his film career with the films “Devrim Arabaları”, “Gölgesizler” and “Celal Tan ve Ailesinin Çok Acıklı Hikayesi”.
The Honorary Awards of the International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival will be presented to their winners at the opening ceremony of the festival on October 5th.