Yılmaz Güney ( Pütün; 1 April 1937 – 9 September 1984) was a Kurdish film director, screenwriter, novelist, and actor. He quickly rose to prominence in the Turkish film industry. Many of his works were devoted to the plight of ordinary working-class people in Turkey. Güney won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982 for the film Yol (The Road) which he co-produced with Şerif Gören. He was at constant odds with the Turkish government over the portrayal of Kurdish culture, people and language in his movies. After being convicted of killing judge Sefa Mutlu in 1974 (a charge which he denied), Güney fled the country and was later stripped of his citizenship. A year before his death in 1983, he co-founded the Kurdish Institute of Paris together with the Kurdish poets Cegerxwîn and Hejar among others. Early life and education Yılmaz Güney was born in 1937 in the village of Yenice in Adana province. His father, Hamit, who was from Siverek in Şanlıurfa province, moved to Yenice after both of his brothers were murdered. His mother was from Varto in Muş province. His parents migrated to Adana to work as labourers in the cotton fields and the young Yılmaz grew up surrounded by the Kurdish working class. Besides working in the fields he had several other jobs including movie delivery boy, horse-cart driver and writing short stories for a local magazine. His first article was published in August 1955 and his first poem a week later while he was still attending high school. His writing brought him into difficulties with the authorities, especially for a short story he wrote about a person aiming for a better world, which was deemed Communist propaganda and for which he had to stand trial. These experiences laid the ground for his future work which generally focused on a realistic portrayal of the downtrodden and marginalised in Turkish society. In 1957, Güney started studiying law at Istanbul University but was quickly drawn into the film industry in which he already had connections from his time in Adana. In Istanbul he met the novelist Yasar Kemal, who connected him with other people from Adana working in the Istanbul film industry. Film Career in Turkey Through Yeşilçam, the Turkish studio system, a handful of directors, including Atıf Yılmaz, began to use cinema as a means of addressing the problems of the people. Until