Istanbul, September 1 () - Within the scope of a project to protect and restore cinema films with international standards, late director Yılmaz Güney’s first film, “Umut” (Hope), has been restored and transferred to a digital format.
In a written statement, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik said one of the new road maps of the ministry was the history of Turkish cinema and to create a national film archive. He provided information about the project, saying:
“We have seen that lots of films had disappeared because they had been kept in inappropriate conditions. We wanted to keep the films of our cultural heritage in an archive with improved technology and physical conditions. And we provided their protection.”
Çelik said they also formed a film restoration team within the body of the ministry and started the digitalization process of those films.
The recent work began with Güney’s films, and as a result of talks with his heirs, they started working for the digitalization of 11 of his films.
“The first work is finished and the film ‘Umut’ has been restored. Other films will be ‘Aç Kurtlar’ [The Hungary Wolves], ‘Ağıt’ [Elegy], ‘Arkadaş’ [Friend], ‘Düşman’ [The Enemy], ‘Duvar’ [The Wall], ‘Endişe’ [Anxiety], ‘Seyyit Han,’ ‘Sürü’ [The Herd], ‘Yol’ [The Road] and ‘Zavallılar’ [The Miserable],” he said.
Çelik said the restored “Umut” would be screened at the Venice Film Festival, adding, “Since 2012, the Venice Film Festival has a special section ‘Venice Classics,’ screening restored films. We had talks to make the world premiere of this film in this section. It will be shown with 20 other films in the festival between Sept. 2 and 12. Güney is the screenwriter, director, producer and lead actor in this film.”
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