Yılmaz Güney was a Kurdish film producer and writer who wrote the award-winning film Yol. His friend and collaborator, Edi Hubschmid, helped Güney flee Turkey, where he had been imprisoned, and travel to Europe. Hubschmid has written a book, Yol: The way to exile, about Güney, who died in 1984 and was buried at Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris, and is hoping to make a documentary film about his friend’s extraordinary life.
Hubschmid gave this interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Rudaw: Where did you see Yılmaz Güney first?
Hubschmid gave this interview at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
Rudaw: Where did you see Yılmaz Güney first?
Hubschmid: I saw Güney’s Megal film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979. We wanted to have the film played in Switzerland. A friend went to Turkey to see Güney. He signed a contract with him for the film to be brought to Switzerland. We then revisited Güney in October 1980, while he was in jail. We sat with him under the supervision of the police at the prison. We talked about ways through which we could work together. He was disillusioned at the time, but he was happy to hear our interest in working with him. He had produced Yol, Megal, and Düşman in Turkey. Güney was not happy about the quality of Düşman due to its low quality artistic features. We asked him to send us the material of the film to redo its sound, montage and color, which he did. It is now transformed into a good quality film.
How did you start working with Yılmaz Güney?
I worked with Güney from 1980 to 1984. He was 10 years older than me. He had abundant experience in this area. He has nearly 100 productions as an actor, producer, and screenwriter. My experience was limited back then. This is how we started mutual work. In the beginning, we transferred all the material regarding Yol from Turkey to Switzerland, at a time where airports were very strict. We also wanted to take him to Europe as he was very upset back then.
How did you take him from Turkey to Europe, rescuing him from jail?
This is a long story. He was given a few days’ leave to be with his family for the [Eid] feast in August 1980. We exploited this chance, taking him by boat though the Aegean Sea, and his wife and two children in a car with a Swiss plate number, all in one day.
We started working on Yol a day after reaching Switzerland. But we had a problem. Güney was wanted by Interpol, which was why we had to work secretly. They found us through Turkish journalists, making us go into hiding to work. In this documentary book, I discuss in detail how we got him out of Turkey.
So you took him to Europe. How did you then start working together?
We started working on his film Yol during the first few days of his arrival in Switzerland. But our work was surreptitious and sporadic. The completion of the artistic work took us 7 months, from October 1981 to May 1982.
Did he not fear for his life while he was in Europe?
Yes, he was afraid, because Interpol was after him. The director of the Cannes’ Film Festival even said that he could protect Güney only for duration of the festival, which he did.
How did he and his family then manage to stay in Europe?
We took his case to then French President François Mitterrand and a number other French politicians. They supported him, giving him a chance to live in France.
How is it going with the documentary you are making? Is it done yet?
I couldn’t produce the documentary for lack of funding. But the intention was still there to do something on Güney, which eventually turned out to be an informed book where I recount these stories in detail. I finished the book over a year ago. It is called Yol: The way to exile.
Why didn’t you think of producing the film in collaboration with a company or a Turkish producer living in Europe?
In fact, we tried every way, but couldn’t get anywhere. We looked hard for some budget in France, Switzerland and Germany. But it was in vain. I gave up on the film eventually due to illness. News of the film broke one day in a German newspaper. I was then contacted by a Turkish producer to which I later sent the material. But I haven’t heard from him since.
So, you finally gave up on the film, right?
No. I revisited my archives last year collecting the photographs we had taken while working together with Güney, turning them into the stories I wrote in the book. I singled out nearly 80 unseen and interesting photographs which gave rise to nearly 80 stories. I happened to meet someone who was a screenwriter advisor in Zurich when I was still busy with this work. I talked to him about the book I was working on, and he promised to help. I would then send him my work, and he would edit it and give me feedback. He finally saw the whole book in April 2016. I completed the book in September 2016. It will be published in German by Switzerland’s Publishing Partners GmbH. I will be holding a seminar on my book at the Kurdish Institute in Paris on January 28, 2017.
Can the book deliver the message the film intended to?
No, it cannot. I turned the idea into a book because I had no better choice. It is an info-graphic book which I want published in German, English and Kurdish. It is useful in two ways. First, it is a journey through the history of Turkey where I want to show what has changed in the country in terms of freedoms. Second, the time during which Güney lived in Turkey is the same as now. It is history merely repeating itself.
How come you decided to come to the Frankfurt international book fair?
I heard that there was such a fair which would also have a Kurdish section. I came looking for a Kurdish publishing institute to publish this historic book about a missing part in the history of Kurdish cinema.
Did you see any Kurdish publishers?
Unfortunately, I found the Kurdish section impoverished and empty. I talked to them about their participation in the fair. They said that they couldn’t contribute more to the fair due to the economic crisis in Kurdistan. There were no Kurdish institutions to translate and publish the book.
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