All Over the Place - A Portrait of Tuncel Kurtiz (2025)

[bunniefuu]

Huh?

Yes.

I will try to tell you

the things I couldn't do.

The things I wanted to do

but fell short of.

You are a well-known actor,

but let's hear it from you.

What's your story in a nutshell?

Life never fits in a nutshell.

Years ago, I wanted to be a storyteller.

Oh, damn!

He's an actor and a character.

You feel an urge to watch him.

To me, Tuncel Kurtiz

is like an exotic plant.

He rewrote his role for every film,

for every script.

Like exotic plants, he absorbed

and reinvented his character.

I might take to the skies.

To watch the world.

I might come back to earth.

So the world watches me.

You didn't fire.

I couldn't.

The first rule of hunting

is to be able to pull the trigger.

IDs, please.

Show your passports.

Where are you from?

There's no time to waste.

You need to work hard.

Oh, this is good.

Get closer. Closer.

Don't move. Here goes.

I. THE KURTIZ EVERYONE KNOWS

He has this strange feeling.

I don't recall when I first met him.

I really don't remember.

I think Hardhead is his nickname.

Hardhead Tuncel.

I first met him while filming Umut.

It's no fantasy, idiot.

It's a fundamental truth.

I saw this guy from behind at the bar

at Hayal Kahvesi in Beyolu.

He was dressed like a rock star.

I kept looking at him.

Then, I realised it was Tuncel Kurtiz.

Tuncel Kurtiz. Tuncel Kurtiz.

He's a legend for us.

Tuncel is always there,

whether you see him or not.

The Bus. 1974.

Part sage, part dervish, part shaman

and part zen master.

I went to Emek Cinema to see the film

that got him a Golden Bear in Berlin.

It was 1970. There he was smoking.

It was just the two of us.

I said, "Welcome to Adana."

"Thanks, son," he replied.

Ylmaz Gney's Sr.

Sr? Wow, man.

I can't forget Kurtiz's performance.

It was inspiring.

He's one of a kind. Great acting.

He nailed it.

Tuncel was an animal.

For me, Tuncel is a kind of a bully.

I'll screw you up.

What do you want, damn it?

I was scared by his grandeur,

his presence and voice.

I dislike starting with what's right.

I want to deal with what's wrong.

I be myself a little

and determine what's wrong.

It feels like I've known him so long,

yet I forget when we first met.

We used to drink and dance a lot.

His take on the world, the way

he interpreted people was unique.

Tuncel Kurtiz was rock'n roll.

Tuncel lived life to the full.

He acted like he lived and vice versa.

He always had discipline.

Tuncel was a true intellectual.

He was so different. Really.

He had a universal mindset.

Tuncel Kurtiz.

He charmed me the day we met.

He was such an intriguing figure.

Tuncel hated flattery,

but he always expected respect.

I think he was very selfish.

I believe he had some regrets.

In fact, the story focuses more on

where Tuncel Kurtiz stood in life.

The world is a terrible place. Terrible.

But there are great people.

Tuncel Kurtiz was one of them.

I'm so glad that someone like him

lived his life in this country.

This adventure started with curiosity.

It progressed with hard work,

discipline, reading, music, love,

sorrow, observing and inner drive.

Looking back, I see the roles I acted

and myself. It's a bit of both.

FRAGMENTS

Born February 1, 1936.

Bahecik.

Then we lived in Krkkale,

Readiye, Kandra.

We were only briefly in Kandra.

Then, father was exiled to Posof.

A cute place on the Georgian border.

Me, the highlands on a horse.

From there, we moved to Ayvalk.

I was suddenly on the seaside.

Then to the US. Harbor, Michigan,

Detroit, New York.

From New York to Istanbul, Izmit,

Silifke and Tarsus.

From Tarsus we came to Edremit.

I was 14 years old.

I loved Edremit so much.

I fell in love for the first time.

Teachers Fikri read poetry,

ahin took us hiking in the hills.

I've got your back, trust me.

Fresh is the pine forest air.

We spent days swimming.

Then I left Edremit.

I travelled most of the world

except China and South America.

The feeling in me

was always the same.

Hues of turquoise and green, rosy red.

Edremit bay. Nothing could beat it.

No one believed me. I was shown

places around the world. I'm 70 now.

I fell in love again.

I recited a poem

by Cahit Stk on the way:

"Between the green branches

"the sky was blue.

"A sweet voice asked me,

"does your heart still ache?

"No longer. The darkness is over."

They reunited, ending the ordeal.

Peaceful and bright is this new era.

I felt it was a beginning.

So, I settled in amlbel Village.

Arnavutky, 117. I dreamed of being

a seagull that could spread its wings

and fly above the woods

in the moonlight. But I never tried.

My sister Sezgin was painting

the dimly lit Kurueme slums.

There was also the crucified seagull.

That gull was Tuncel Kurtiz.

Sezgin says Tuncel introduces all

his friends as great actors and writers.

What a lot of great guys.

Tuncel had befriended. She was right.

All my friends were tenacious, brave

and polite. We all were.

I was an avid reader.

So were my parents.

Books were a fetish in our house.

Everyone was into books.

My Dad was a district governor

so, I had access to a library.

He was like a young aristocrat.

He knew German, English, Jewish

and Arabic. He knew so much.

He was raised

by a white-collar family.

But I think at one point in life

he turned his back on all of that.

I read Emil Zola,

Maxim Gorki.

I read Sabahattin Ali.

I had a passion for reading.

I started writing short stories.

I knew Tuncel previously

from high school literature matinees.

Tuncel wrote stories. Long ones.

No one wanted to listen, but I did.

He liked me for that.

I often read my stories

at these literature matinees.

My stories were being published

in len Magazine.

Yet, I was bored at university.

Father enrolled me into law school.

I left classes

and joined Genlik Tiyatrosu,

an amateur theatre group.

He took an interest in theatre

while studying at Istanbul University.

He was part of countless theatres

after that.

We were young actors

in Yldz Kenter's Kent Oyuncular.

We formed Halk Oyuncular.

Genco, me, Tuncel.

Tuncel, Aydn, me,

Tuncer Necmolu and Umur Bugay.

We were a disciplined group.

Kenter was a disciplined woman.

Tuncel had a very strange approach

to acting.

Once, we were performing Devri.

Sleyman in the Black Sea Region.

His role was amil Efendi.

There, he spoke in a Black Sea accent.

We perform in Diyarbakr and there

he switches to the Diyarbakr accent.

He spoke like a local. People liked it.

It was never done in theatre before.

Cinema started that year.

II

THE CINEMA.

What happened?

I think it was 1964.

Orhan Gniray invited me.

We appeared in eytann Uaklar.

The director was lhan Engin.

Assistants were Zeki kten

and Bilge Olga.

His first film Haracma Dokunma,

then Sayl Kabadaylar.

I appeared in these but let me tell you,

I wasn't happy.

Don't praise cinema to me.

Don't get me talking about it.

It's a farce. Turkish cinema revolves

around being famous and rich.

That's it. Actors like me were chosen

because we're good. We read scripts.

I can pretend to cry and get angry

as a character actor, however

it pisses me off when director

Hasan Kazankaya tells me to look angrier.

Because we have

a few drinks every night.

It was over. Ylmaz had arrived.

You look like you have guts.

Care to work for us?

Keko told me to leave theatre.

I said I didn't like cinema.

Ylmaz appears and there pops out

25 cameras. Ylmaz proceeds.

He kicks and shoves.

Smashes windows and breaks stuff.

We have a knife fight.

He attacks, then I attack.

We roll on the ground. You know.

It's how a movie is made.

Ylmaz said he would do irkin Kral

and then we would do art.

Still not talking?

Have him swallow

two more gold coins.

Ylmaz was very fond of Tuncel.

They had a special bond.

He argued that people had to first

understand them,

get to know them.

Then, people would follow them.

That's when good films would come.

I think Tuncel was one of the few

who understood Ylmaz Gney.

His bond with Ylmaz was beyond

the typical director-actor relation.

What a duo. He gave a lot to Ylmaz.

Maybe feelings he wanted to hide.

The vulnerabilities.

I think Tuncel was like an alter ego

to Ylmaz in cinema.

Ylmaz really admired Tuncel.

He wanted him in all his films.

They were about the same age but

Ylmaz used to call him "old man".

They're the same age but Kurtiz was

the only person

Ylmaz was careful around.

Because he knew Kurtiz

had a wilder side to him.

We appeared in a string of films.

Konyak Kabadaylar Kral,

Sayl Kabadaylar,

Krallar nde Gider, irkin Kral.

Of course,

there were also some important examples

for example.

Take Son Kular or Bitmeyen Yol,

One of his most seminal titles

with Ylmaz is Hudutlarn Kanunu.

Stop there!

You got the sergeant in the village.

Was it us or the teacher?

It's a film about smuggling

and the feudal system of the time.

A very realistic portrayal

of rural life in Turkey.

Decades later, in 2010, it was restored

by Scorsese's World Cinema Project.

It has since become a classic title

in world cinema.

We're from

very different backgrounds.

He was a villager.

I was the son of a bureaucrat.

But we would both see the injustice.

We had

socialist communist tendencies.

What's up, Cabbar?

Making do.

If you ask me, Umut is the

best film ever made in Turkey.

I was a student in Paris, and I watched

Umut there. Think about it.

What a shock.

Umut was being screened

at a cinema in Beikta.

1971. It was a big cinema,

about 900 seats. The film ends.

An awkward silence.

No one can move.

Some dimwit decides to cheer

and then hell breaks loose.

This was the first of the good films.

Ylmaz Gney had mentioned.

For the first time he is peevish,

fast and rhythmic.

That character had a big impact on me.

Friends who were into cinema

criticised his way of acting.

I was up in arms, of course.

How could they say that?

He was your regular villager.

Pull yourself together, Cabbar.

Come on!

When I heard Umut was being filmed

I took the afternoon off

and came to the film location.

Movie equipment was everywhere.

I had no idea what they were for.

There was an old man with them.

It was Tuncel Kurtiz.

I recognised him from films.

I approached him.

He was smoking alone.

I said, "Welcome to Adana."

"Thank you, son," he replied.

I said I wanted to appear in the film.

He asked my age. "16," I said.

He pointed to a horse and carriage

being pushed uphill by people.

"Go, help push it," he said.

I went over to help.

No one was around when I got back.

Tuncel had gone, too.

I reminded him of this incident

when we met years later.

He said, "Good. You got into

the business the right way."

We were filming in Ylmaz's family

house. He got two horses

and an old carriage.

The kids were relatives.

That kid picking up the cigarette

and smoking it was not in the script.

Neither was the bowl of yoghurt

meant to splash on his face.

All were fantastic coincidences.

Coppola shot 300,000 metres of film.

I remember how he found

the intro scene for Apocalypse Now.

He sticks his hand in the bin and

pulls out something. That's the intro.

He wonders what would happen

if he pulled out something else.

Somethings aren't planned. There are

coincidences and feelings involved.

Hasan, brother. Let's not do this.

Geez!

It all begins with Umut

being screened at Cannes.

It was the first Turkish movie.

Cannes made them realise they had

reached the international arena.

There, Kurtiz told how

the film was taken out of Turkey.

This leads to an investigation,

accusing Kurtiz

of illegally taking the film

out of the country.

Kurtiz does not return to Turkey

for a while.

The 1971 coup had restricted liberties.

In 1972, Ylmaz Gney

was arrested on the grounds of

assisting revolutionaries.

He is jailed for about two years.

It's actually the end of an era.

Ylmaz gave me wings.

I fly with them.

The bird flew in 1971.

III

NO TOMORROW

Stockholm. Sweden's role was

to accept the revolutionaries

and assimilate them to a degree.

Between 1970 and 1980

I was helping out young people

who had fled to Stockholm.

Then came the theatre performers.

They wanted to work with me.

Thousands of Turks

were living in Stockholm.

Hoping for some cross-cultural exchange

we hired a small stage

opposite the Royal Theatre.

I think Tuncel and his wife Gnen

got here two years after us.

Back then, most of the refugees

arriving from Turkey

settled in student accommodation

in a migrant area called Rinkin.

We were neighbours

with Tuncel there.

Being a famous performer,

Tuncel got into the art circuit.

There, he met important figures.

One of them was

the director of the Royal Theatre.

Tuncel convinced him

to allocate a stage for us for free.

In 1970s, we better knew Kurtiz

from his films.

Those were important films.

Come on, pay up. We're here.

Bir Caniye Gnl Verdim.

Starring lhan Engin, Ajda Pekkan, Okan.

Sevda Ferda and Tuncel Kurtiz.

A Pesen Film production.

That's how I met Tun Okan.

He was very dedicated.

He was a leftist. He came to me,

insisting we made a film.

We started working

on the script for Otobs.

In the end, we called Gne Karabuda

in Stockholm.

He agreed to be the cinematographer.

All my friends agreed.

Aras ren, Yksel Topkugrler.

nal agreed. So did Smer gr.

Nurettin Sezer gave all he had.

Our great painter Rauf Alazan

painted the bus.

Sabri also agreed.

Together, we did a great job.

I was a co-producer

but I didn't get a penny for it.

I returned the 6000 Swiss Francs

he sent me.

He can stick it.

I was literally cheated.

It was a collaboration of goodwill,

but rifts about the content

and the ending caused a big stir.

They were my friends. They came for me.

They were all producers.

That was the deal.

It was a collective initiative.

They were staying at my place

and Smer gr's flat.

My friends from Germany, too.

In the end he cursed Tun.

Tuncel Kurtiz cursed Tun Okan.

He removed Kurtiz's role

by suicide the next day.

Tuncel did the scene.

The film would never end otherwise.

The story kept changing.

It changed so much.

In the end, Okan took the film

and gave it a whole new ending.

I had a severe kidney infection

mainly because I had to be the hero.

I had to walk almost naked on ice

with a thin pair of shoes.

I had a terrible urinary tract infection.

The treatment took a long time.

One question comes to mind

right away about Otobs.

If Kurtiz and Okan could reconcile,

if the end was different

what would the film be like?

It's hard to answer that.

Regardless, I think Otobs is one of

the best Turkish films ever made.

After the sh**ting of Otobs was over.

Tuncel Kurtiz told me

about a photographer friend

called Erhan.

He wanted him

to take my photographs.

He asked me openly. Can you act?

I haven't been involved

in cinema until now.

But since you came all this way,

I will help you in any way I can.

Hasan Gl was no actor.

Hasan wanted to be an actor.

Tailor Hasan from Kulu.

I told Tuncel that I was a great actor

who played his part in daily life.

But I had no idea if that worked

on camera. The director decides.

He took me to a club one night.

He told me he wanted to act.

I agreed.

He looked good. His big black eyes.

I even cut his hair.

Oh, Mr Hasan. Welcome.

I went to Sweden

with Sava Diner.

In Stockholm, I played one of

the leading roles opposite Tuncel.

It turned out good.

It even got an award.

It was his first go at directing.

Tuncel Kurtiz is better known as an

actor but there is another side to him.

A director. He has two documentaries

and a fictional feature film.

There is one film he did about people

who sell their hair to Sweden.

It's a great story. It's real, too.

I set off from Sweden to film

the E5 Highway documentary.

Just then, he receives important news

from the jailed Ylmaz Gney.

He had invited Kurtiz

to work on his new title Sr.

The filming of E5 was not finished

but Kurtiz left immediately

and went to Turkey

I was told Ylmaz was calling me.

I didn't know why.

Director Zeki kten gave me the script.

I read it that night.

I went again the next day.

It was a thrilling plot.

I put my own project aside

and headed towards Siirt.

We win or we lose. Right, ivan?

A stunning performance.

He's just so unique.

He's just like a local guy. Flawless.

I remember how moving the film was.

Watching Tuncel Kurtiz in that film

changed my life.

He became a role model.

Tuncel provided Ylmaz details.

How the locals talked, the jargon.

Ylmaz used all of this. Tuncel was

a key contributor to the script.

It is one of the best performances

in his career.

The other leading actor

was Tark Akan.

Monster! Shameless!

Don't say that, Father.

Dad took me to Istanbul while

he was filming Sr with Tark Akan.

We went to Papyrus Bar together.

Tark Akan, God rest his soul,

had bruises all over his arms.

He said, "Asl, I gave Tark

a good beating."

Tark showed me his arms

to corroborate the story.

I can't just get into a role

like wearing a jacket.

I deeply connect with my character.

I have a hard time letting it go.

Something of it always remains in me.

I have to run if my character is.

Silo! Silo!

Have you seen Silo?

Silo!

There is a scene where he loses

his child. He shouts his name.

Silo!

The way he shouts is so moving.

You can feel he has lost

so much more than a child.

Silo!

Silo! Silo!

Abuzer, I want land.

I want food to eat.

I want my share. I want my land.

The second time

I worked with Tuncel was Kanal.

Erden Kral, hsan and I were

travelling from Istanbul to Adana.

The film was going to be shot at Kozan.

We talked about Kurtiz,

the entire journey. His mad genius.

A little gossip, too,

but mostly good things about him.

Ihsan would mumble,

"A good man, a good actor."

That is what Ihsan said.

After Kanal, he and Erden had

Bereketli Topraklar zerinde next.

See that?

It's high noon.

Only now do we get a break.

Heartless heathen.

One of my favourite Orhan Kemal novels.

I was casting director.

Back then, female actors avoided

playing the antagonist.

- You married or single?

- Single.

Good.

- Why?

- Forget marriage.

A few actors agreed

but they later backed out.

Parents or maybe partners

stopped them. I have no idea why.

Tuncel was aghast.

He said, "Nur will play the part."

I thought, "Who is Nur?"

"The role is yours," he said.

I froze. I was unsure.

But he had made his mind up.

He was very tense during the filming.

It was a tough job in every sense.

There were others involved but

he was the scriptwriter and producer.

It was all on him.

Down to the crew accommodation,

catering and project management.

He dealt with the script in every stage.

Several writers were involved,

But he was unhappy with it.

I believe he sat down

and rewrote it.

I had to deal with the script.

There was no material.

I had no choice but to rewrite.

Bereketli Topraklar on my own.

It was all he talked about. He met

with Erden Kral about it every day.

Sometimes they sat

in separate corners to eat.

At times they didn't talk

to each other for a day.

He was quirky.

Once, he was annoyed with Erden.

Tuncel wanted to sh**t there.

Erden wanted to sh**t by the river.

We had this set guy called Hac.

He was given a support role.

Hac was playing the farm caretaker.

Tuncel was supposed to hold his ear,

pull out his knife

and threaten cut off his ear.

Don't Zeynel Agha. I beg you.

Shut up, heathen.

If you don't tell me the truth,

I swear I'll cut off your ear.

Bad timing for poor Hac.

Angry, Tuncel pulled his ear so hard...

I mean, the guy.

May he rest in peace.

You should have heard him yell.

"Save me!" he was shouting in pain.

His ear was swollen for days to come.

Remember that Tuncel adored Hac.

Tuncel was just so into his role

that for him,

Hac was no longer a person

but part of the dcor, the Agha's serf.

He finally let go of the ear

and apologised to Hac.

Come on, pops. Up you get.

I can't. I can't do it, brother.

In one scene, I was carrying Nurettin

on my back. He was older than me.

I had Cuban-heeled shoes.

The ground was ice cold.

I had him on my back

I'd slipped on the shoes

and was stepping on the heel. It hurt.

I was about to sprain my ankle.

I rehearsed several times.

Tuncel was not around.

Filming started after the 7th rehearsal.

I had started walking again when.

Tuncel returned.

He stood there, unaware

of the previous rehearsals.

I was midway when my ankle gave in.

We both fell on the paved floor.

People ran over to help us.

Tuncel growled, "On your feet!"

He started scolding us.

"Drink less, respect the job..."

He was furious. I tried to explain.

He didn't believe me. "Cut the crap,

I know you all," he bellowed.

Tuncel was always stressed out

while all this was taking place.

He was under a lot of pressure.

He didn't want to lose time.

He wants to give to the team yet,

he gets nothing in return.

He held a meeting to tell everyone

that the film was a voluntary effort.

"We haven't paid anyone,

we might never be able to pay you.

"If the film is a hit, we all earn.

"If not, we all go down," he said.

He was frank from the start.

Collective effort was needed.

I would wake up to his voice

to see his car wheel-deep in the sea.

Tuncel standing on the car

reciting poetry at the top of his voice.

Poems from Nazm and so on.

He used to do that a lot.

It was like a ritual he did to prepare

for the day's filming.

He also made sure

everyone got out of bed.

The city's cellars smell

of blood and pus.

The city's cellars

are home to murders and death.

I'm not going in that toy shop, Mum.

Full of planes, tanks and cannons.

I love my slender horse.

It won't bite or kick.

I wish to live like a tree.

Grow tall for all to see.

Not a life of toil, though.

I'm not going in that toy shop, Mum.

Full of planes, tanks and cannons.

They told me to play improv tango

on my accordion

while they read Cahit Irgat poems.

We did an interview for Roll,

a music magazine that we were publishing.

He said, "The US consists of

Tom Waits listeners."

It became very popular among us

and on social media, too.

We knew Tuncel

was an avid music listener.

He likes Turkish folk songs just as

much as jazz or old Russian tunes.

He would recite poetry

and then start singing jazz.

He could talk about classical music.

Or mention a forgotten folk song

from the Black Sea highlands.

His perception was fully open.

Like a five-year-old kid.

He never got old.

I had discovered Argentinian tango

musician Astor Piazzolla.

He was so happy

to find out I like his music.

Because Astor was a revolutionary

in Argentina.

You're a beacon in the darkness.

You light the path we walk.

Everyone would suddenly join in.

Such a nice song about humanism.

You're a beacon in the darkness.

You light the path we walk.

We see the sun rising.

At the end of this dark road.

Over the hills, it's approaching.

The red star bird of victory.

This is no dream or fantasy.

It is the star of salvation.

Religion or language don't matter.

We are all from one

IV

THE COUP AND CLOSED DOORS

Life in Turkey changed

radically after the 1980 coup.

A dark era begins

for artists and creators.

During the 1980 coup

the prosecutors contacted me.

They invited me to give a statement.

I panicked.

They claimed my dad was speaking out

against Turkey.

They asked, "Where is he?"

"How do we get hold of him?"

I gave my statement.

I said I hadn't seen him. I had to lie.

I said my dad was a patriot who'd

never speak out against his country.

Tuncel Kurtiz distanced himself

from Turkey during this period.

He went to Paris to film Duvar

with Ylmaz Gney.

He didn't appear

in any Turkish productions.

Gney was complaining that

no one wanted to appear in his films.

I told him I would come over.

He was pleased to hear that.

I left right away. No money

was involved. Friendship is different.

Above all, believing is different.

Gney had witnessed the incident

while at Ankara Prison.

The whole cast were amateurs

in that film.

70-80 kids had been rounded up

from the streets of Germany.

It was challenging for Gney.

Tuncel was his biggest helper.

He did his best to motivate the actors.

For Duvar, Gney asked Kurtiz

to play a certain role.

But he was sad

that he couldn't film it in Turkey.

Gney explained

that would be impossible.

He would be detained

the moment he set foot there.

He said, "We will never get

that distinct Ylmaz Gney feel

even if we set up the best studios

in the world.

"You will never get the atmosphere

you create in your home country."

He had to tell him that.

We talked on the phone.

Gney said, "Don't fret.

They got half my stomach, but I'll live.

I will fight it, don't worry.

They may say I'm much worse.

You will hear it

but don't believe a word they say.

He wasn't able to visit Gney at all.

I was walking in Berlin one day,

tired and distracted.

I bumped into Gney.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"You died." "No, old man," he said.

Daniela was with me. I asked if

she could see him, too. She nodded.

It was Gney. Then I closed my eyes.

My partner Beklan

had invited him to Berlin.

"It is a worker's theatre. Problems,

"lives, weddings were all filmed.

I don't have anyone for the role.

"Only you can do it," he said.

Peterstein invited us to Berlin.

Kerim Afar, ener en, Macit Koper

and Kurtiz all became ill*gal workers.

Berlin. Liberal Berlin.

An island in East Germany.

Berlin is a city no one wants

to live in. The Turks arrived.

People after a laidback life came.

Berlin is a metropolis.

It still bears wounds of the great w*r.

b*llet holes everywhere.

Berlin is moving forward

despite the atrocities of w*r.

I saw Tuncel in a bar.

We had a few beers.

At one point, I told him

I wanted to give him a leading role.

I wanted him to have the leading role

in my play, Karagz.

Looking into the distance,

sipping his beer, he asked,

"Why do you want to work with me?

Why me?"

"I heard you like a fight.

I want a fight with you," I answered.

It was easier to prepare for roles

when I was young.

But now you hear Arabic

or German in Germany.

It's not easy. You need discipline.

Kuzu'nun Glmseyii

has an interesting story.

He doesn't know Arabic

but he plays an Arab.

He memorised all his lines.

No one believed he could pull it off.

I lived in Berlin. I got an award there.

But I didn't do a lot in Berlin.

There were a lot of people

in a small city. It was tough.

I think it was the year 2000.

One day he said he got

the Best Actor award

in Berlin in 1986.

He had received his award

from Gina Lollobrigida.

But the Israeli film got only one award,

so he lent it to the producer.

But no one

had returned the award since.

In 2001, we held an Israeli Film Festival

in Ankara and showed that film.

One day I got a call from the Israeli

Consulate. I was invited to the Consulate

to look at something.

There, I was shown a box.

I opened it

and looked inside.

There was the bear.

The silver had since oxidised and

turned black.

The Consul General

presented the award to Kurtiz at

the opening ceremony of the festival.

I'm against racism and nationalism

in all its forms.

I prefer to tear down walls

and open windows.

Western Europe, the British,

Germans, French and..

other nations battled to the death

fifty years ago.

But today they are allies

and I want that to set an example.

In Nazm Hikmet's Ferhat & irin.

Ferhat talks to his love.

irin, from near and afar

you are as beautiful

as Turkish,

the language I speak everywhere.

Turkish is beautiful, of course.

There is also a quote by Adorno.

"It is no nation we inhabit,

but a language."

Some peoples could not speak

- their language here.

- A disgrace.

It is a disgrace

for everyone living here.

A disgrace for humanity and for us.

I couldn't agree more.

March 23, 1987. Paris.

March 23, 6.40am.

Rue de Turin No. 117.

It reminds me of Arnavutky, 117.

I suddenly remember Arnavutky.

I woke up earlier than yesterday.

I'm a little excited

and under the weather.

Neck injury. Been in Berlin

for three months. Too much drink

and no sleep has taken its toll.

I stayed in Stockholm for seven days.

I tried to bond with my son Mirza.

I love Mirza.

"I do, but what am I doing for him.

"I walked in the rain. I don't want

"to be too early for the rehearsals."

It was always exciting to be with him.

It was an adventure.

A very big adventure.

He is one of my greatest inspirations.

He said he was a lousy father

but he always believed in me.

You want to make jazz, play the cello,

become a painter

a writer, a musician?

You can be anything you want.

My parents divorced when I was four.

It was the same for Mirza.

To be honest,

he wasn't your regular family man.

He certainly wasn't

your typical grandpa.

I realised that at a very young age

so, I never had trouble

communicating with him.

He also would say that I had achieved

many things that he hadn't.

He felt sad about not spending enough

time with his children.

The child who suddenly grew up

and became a teenager.

And the father

who never got to know his son.

Rehearsal day. Peter Brook has had

a foot operation. His blue eyes bright.

He wanted us to form a circle.

We did, but he didn't like it.

He said we would form

the perfect circle one day.

Peter called me over.

"You act it in Turkish," he said.

I started walking in the centre.

It was kind of a ritual now.

Telling the story like a eulogist.

Peter Brook is a legend in theatre.

He wanted to stage an 11-hour-long

Indian Mahabarata play.

He signs Anthony Quinn

for the leading role.

He thought that Kurtiz

was some odd feudal lord.

He says,

"Where did they find this guy?"

"He is exactly what I need,

probably a villager. Look into him."

They realise he is an actor

and want to meet him.

Kurtiz told me the rest of the story.

So, he goes to New York.

They meet and go for dinner.

They sit down to talk

at a jazz bar in Brooklyn.

He figures that Anthony Quinn

is interested in doing it.

He has to get that role.

Just before the second session begins

he jumps on stage

and starts playing

Bedrettin in English.

The whole hall is surprised.

Who is he? How does he do it?

No one interrupts him

and he plays the role until the end.

That is the end

of the Anthony Quinn story.

He was staying at a hotel

opposite iek Bar.

He sits on one of the beds.

My friend and I sit opposite him.

Then he started playing

the Mahabarata.

It was dawn by the time he finished.

His voice, his facial expressions.

It is more than what he says.

It's the way he stands and moves.

He never had a problem

playing in a foreign language.

But something was missing for him.

It was about emotion, the spirit.

"In a capitalist, imperialist world,

you will be given every opportunity,

"you will be hailed you but you will

"always be second class," he said.

"I'm not having any of that.

I didn't accept that.

I would be working in the UK

or the US if I had," he added.

February 1, 1991. I turn 55 today.

"What have I achieved?

What a lot of mistakes I made.

"What was I looking for?

Did I find anything?

"I never saw my grandchild, Melis.

I never met her partner.

"I wasn't with you. Mirza lives

in Stockholm with his mother.

"I'm somewhere on the planet."

Now, I'm here working on a stage

adaptation of Bedrettin Destan.

It all went south, by the way.

All projects were doomed.

I'm after new projects, of course.

I'm with a German girl, Daniela.

We get along fine.

Our arguments are epic.

Then I quit drinking and start working.

I life without booze again.

I'm reluctantly appearing in

a Norwegian film to pay the debts.

Well, that's about it, Asl.

A day in the life of mad Tuncel.

V

HOMECOMING

June 4, 1993. Back in Istanbul.

We are staging eyh Bedrettin.

To sing folk songs together.

To pull the nets out of the water.

To work on iron like lacework.

To plough the soil together.

To eat sweet figs together.

To have your lover by your side.

And be as one against it all.

Words seemed inadequate to him.

He added movement to words.

He would stand up,

climb on the couch, even.

He used movement

to express himself. I remember

I think it was eyh Bedrettin.

He started flapping his arms like a bird.

He did those breathing practices.

eyh Bedrettin was innovative.

It was between poetry and music.

It was special and we can't forget.

Sema's contribution.

Where are you staging it? At Arif's.

I said, "Tuncel, you've appeared in

Stockholm, Berlin,

"Los Angeles and Tokyo.

"Now, you're playing at iek Bar?"

"Yes," he said. "For my friends

and fans." That's what he did.

As you know, eyh Bedrettin

was a big production.

He was alone there. Sometimes

with friends. There was music.

He sang poetry. eyh Bedrettin

was innovative in that sense.

In the background you have

Nazm Hikmet. A masterpiece.

But it was his interpretation.

It was unique.

He was possibly taking over

where Nazm Hikmet left off.

He said he was a follower

of Bedrettin. It was his ideology.

I mean, he was a socialist

and then a communist.

Yet, here he was now

as a new Tuncel Kurtiz.

He would shout as he walked.

I mean...

We would all have to do

the diaphragm exercises.

Kurtiz continued theatre

but also appeared in feature films.

In the 1990s and early 2000s.

Dervi Zaim's Tabutta Rvaata.

Iklar Snmesin and nat Hikayeleri.

Bar Pirhasan's Usta Beni ldrsene.

mer Kavur's Akrebin Yolculuu.

His acting and more so, characters

define a period once more.

I was thinking. Let's get some booze

and go to Sar.

We all go to his grave as friends.

I got the booze.

I wrote the character Reis

in Tabutta Rvaata thinking of Kurtiz.

I was focused on theatre then.

He started chasing me. I refused him.

"Who is playing the other guy?

I can play him," I said.

"Ahmet has that role," he replied.

"Well, anyone can play that role,."

So, began a marathon

that lasted for months.

He liked Reis initially but he was sure

he didn't want to play him.

I kept harassing him.

This lasted for months.

"The role was written for you,"

he insisted. He was stalking me.

He came to my home, to rehearsals.

He convinced me in the end.

We never talked about money.

The was no producer or money.

It was unclear how we would film it.

I was new in the sector.

I had no acclaimed debut film.

This was a risk for Kurtiz.

There was no need.

Also, I had made it clear

that I would not be able to pay him.

Kurtiz could have demanded a fee

to appear in the film.

But that was impossible.

This was a guerilla-type film.

No smoking in here.

Every film resonates with us.

Some of them you want to forget.

But some films

have more to give than that.

You can maintain a bond with

the crew and locations for a long time.

After filming was over, Kurtiz

kept on going to those locations

to chat with the amateur cast

who were in the film.

I sometimes watched him

from a distance.

How he socialised with the fishermen.

How he played Bedrettin to them.

That diary belongs to me.

I know.

But in it are things

that also belong to me.

If that's what you say, Selim.

You took it, b*stard.

There was a stampede

for a loaf of bread.

The first stories, epics and folk songs

of humanity

were written here.

On the slopes of Mt. Ararat.

Let it be known.

Listen, I won't ask for much. Okay?

Keep me company, make out with me.

That's all.

- I'm hungry. Buy me dinner.

- Let's go.

I met Kurtiz in Nuremberg, I think.

Around the time I also met

Uur Ycel. Back then,

the three of us hung out together.

I was the youngest among them,

But I realised age didn't matter.

We were living the rock'n roll life.

I met Hanna Schygulla.

She said she wanted to work with me.

It all happened

because some thought my work was

like Fassbinder. I disagree with that.

I always thought Ylmaz Gney

was more prominent in my style.

Then I had an idea. I had to do a film

that had Gney's icon Kurtiz and.

Fassbinder's icon Hanna Schygulla

together.

That's how it all began.

I wanted to work with Kurtiz.

Getting old is f*cking bad.

Nothing good about it. Nothing.

Fatih Akn called and told me I was

playing next to Kurtiz. I was shocked.

Hanna Schygulla, Tuncel Kurtiz

and so many more.

But the idea of playing

alongside Kurtiz was above it all.

See, I made you pastries.

You'll love them.

Not now. Take them away.

Why are you looking at me like that?

The doctor told me to stay off it.

Eat sh*t.

One great thing about Kurtiz

is his passion to work.

He loved acting.

It was contagious.

I like to do new things.

I'm in pursuit.

Then I see someone like me.

Also looking for new things.

Everything is still fluid.

Nothing is a dogma for him.

We are in pursuit of a bond

between two people.

I realised I enjoyed rehearsals

with Fatih.

We were looking for things.

We were experimenting.

The things we found went into

the film. But we kept on looking.

All the women were crazy for Tuncel.

He'd greet them, dance with them.

One of them offers him champagne.

One rolls a smoke, the other has tea.

It was like a carnival.

Surprised, Fatih asked if he knew them.

"Oh, I know them all very well,"

he replied.

He was loving and sincere.

They all fell for him.

We walked the red carpet at Cannes.

The French were shouting

the names of Schygulla and Kurtiz.

I mean, there were some

300 journalists on either side.

Maybe 200 TV reporters

and the general public.

They shouted the names

of Schygulla and Kurtiz

I was amazed. It was spectacular.

He kept his distance to TV series.

In the 2000s he said,

"I will appear in short films

but not TV series."

In 2002 or 2003, Kurtiz came to say

he wanted to introduce me to a nutter.

"How mad is he?" I asked.

"Very," he answered.

This man was Naif Alibeyolu,

the then mayor of Kars. He was a nutter.

We started visiting Kars.

Uur Ycel also joined us.

They go way back but it had been

years since the two got together.

Then he appeared in a few episodes of

Ycel's series Karanlkta Koanlar.

He got focused on the series.

Kurtiz always told me,

"Reis, I have evaded

the risk of becoming rich."

Then, being in demand for TV series,

he started making a lot of money.

We were together every day

for 15 years.

But he did get bored at times.

"Come on, guys. k*ll me already.

Will you ever be prepared?"

He would also call Tomris begging

her to k*ll him to end the misery.

He wanted out of the series.

He would get so angry at times.

Sometimes he would walk off

swearing, waving his arms in the air.

Ilgaz would usually ask me

to calm him down.

I'd go to sweet-talk him out of it.

"Is that so, dear?" "Yes, Tuncel.

We need to get back, come on."

You may go, if that's all.

There's one more thing, Sultan.

I'm lucky that Muhteem Yzyl

was his calmest period.

Because I had heard

very different stories from my friends.

When you're acting and rehearsing

you focus on portraying the character

the best way you can

but you also follow him

with a degree of consciousness.

I found myself staring at him.

I was watching his moves.

The way he handles his role,

his presence It's all so interesting.

I was offered a role inspired by.

The Count of Monte Cristo.

I like the script.

I told them my take on it.

One day, everyone returns home.

Got any bluefish?

No, only Norwegian mackerel.

- Want one, sir?

- Fine. Make it a sandwich.

Norwegian, huh? How can a city

change so much in 20 years.

Yeah.

Where is the Istanbul I knew?

- Where were you? Abroad?

- No, in prison.

Ezel was planned to start one year

earlier but there were problems.

The 2008 financial crisis

postponed it a year.

I had never met Kurtiz.

Neither had the director.

We knew about him, of course.

I remember the day we met

in my office.

He walked in wearing a linen shirt.

His presence was unmistakable.

Sit down.

For decades, Kurtiz remained largely

unknown to the general public.

Now, he had finally gained

mainstream attention.

It was the discovery of a great actor.

Sit down and answer me.

How can you do this?

Good luck with the game, Ramiz.

The thing I remember most about

Kurtiz is the way he said my name.

It still rings in my ears.

Eyan. Eyan. Eyan.

Forever Eyan. Always Eyan.

He was grumpy, not harsh.

Keep anyone waiting for three hours

and they will be grumpy but

this has become the norm in Turkey.

No one complains.

However, Kurtiz complained.

Tell me, has everything gone to plan

in your life?

Not at all.

Proof is standing here. You.

I was sh**ting Rheingold

with some Kurdish rapper kids.

They are all g*ng members, okay?

Then they stop and say,

"You're the one who filmed the boss."

"You worked with Ramiz."

I had no idea what they were saying.

"You filmed Ramiz.

We saw him in your film."

I was clueless until I found out

that he had appeared in a mafia series.

And everyone, all those kids

all admired Tuncel Kurtiz.

Being so influential does worry me.

Quoting from Adorno,

"Wrong life cannot be lived rightly."

I never imagined being followed

by millions of people.

I'm a man who makes do

with what he has.

I never witnessed so much attention.

He had to put his arm in a sling

to avoid shaking hands.

Police officers stopped him

to talk and get his autograph.

One morning, he was having

a brisk walk in Kavakldere.

A man stops and calls, "Ramiz."

Kurtiz stops to say,

"Everyone thinks I look like him.

"I don't know what to do anymore.

"I feel helpless, sir.

"I can't go anywhere these days."

So, the man apologises

- for bothering him.

- He hated it.

He said, "I've played in Mahabarat,

"Sr, Umut, Bereketli,

"I got the best actor award at Berlin.

I received dozens of others. Nothing.

"So, gaining fame with one TV series

is k*lling me. No more TV."

He appeared in great movies

by famous directors but

mainstream fame came to him

with the series.

Hey, bro. I owe you a story, right?

How about we settle scores

before you leave. Care to listen?

Maybe it was good to do TV series

at a later age.

So many people got to know him.

How could we go to the past

to watch him on stage?

His films were forgotten

after this mainstream title.

Everyone knew my dad as Ramiz,

and this really upset me.

They called me Ramiz's daughter.

People came asking for a photo.

People would shout from their cars:

"You're the greatest, Ramiz."

"Do you know my name? Tell me,"

he asked them.

"Ramiz," answered one.

My father shouted angrily,

"My name is Tuncel Kurtiz."

They had no idea.

The great Tuncel Kurtiz finding fame

in a TV series leaves mixed feelings.

You can't decide

whether it's good or bad.

He liked it when people asked for

a photo. He wasn't like that before.

He used to brush them off

but he changed in his final years.

He came to terms with it.

I think the charismatic

and suave disposition of Ramiz

reflects Tuncel's experiences in life

and his unique

improvised style of acting.

He was living in a small flat in Tnel

during the filming of Ezel.

You walked in and it's full of books.

Three of them open on the desk.

One on the chair, on the couch.

Books within books.

He read all the time.

He worked on improving the script.

He refined his lines

and those of other actors.

He would sit with the director and

work on the plot. He was different.

I took note of Oscar Wilde's.

Ballad of Reading Gaol in 1956.

"Each man kills the thing he loves."

It was a long poem

translated by zdemir Asaf.

Asaf was my friend. These are

the things that give joy to me.

Because "Each man kills,

"Yet each man does not die."

VI

TUNCEL ON HOME TURF

Mt. Ida has always called me

wherever I've lived.

Years later,

I finally moved back here.

Long gone are childhood thrills.

Now it's the history that charms me.

The birthplace of epics and legends,

this mountain rises tall

right next to us.

This mountain is now my refuge.

I guess I won't be going

anywhere else after this.

The soil is so fertile here.

No wonder it was fought after.

No one wanted to part with it.

Luckily, its beauty has survived

the ages.

Come on, iko. Go.

He is a loving man.

He loves nature and animals.

His bond with nature

manifested as metaphors in his life.

He insisted we maintain a bond

with nature.

A part of us had to be rooted.

That's why he came here. To Mt. Ida.

He was a shaman. He had it in him.

He used to get up at 5am.

He'd tell me, "I've been up for hours.

"I've walked to Antakya and back."

Physical activity

was integrated with his acting.

Stamina and acting were inseparable

things for him.

We had a music teacher called aban.

He'd say, "Whether rain or snow,

"I won't change my pace.

"That isn't stopping me,"

and he would walk, with us behind him.

There was Grandpa Tuncel

holding his stick.

He'd walk, banging it on the ground.

Little Tuncel was about eight

and he was copying his grandpa.

We once walked from here to Akay.

He's stubborn.

nat Hikayeleri is a great example.

He does what he puts his mind on.

I'm trying to have a

nice life after 76 here.

I wondered if I'd be 76, 86 or 96.

Here I am at 76.

Life goes on.

Live like there's no tomorrow.

Work every day.

Burhan Ouz told me the best toast.

"To success with hard work."

He was lucky as an actor

but you need to remember one thing.

Tuncel Kurtiz didn't appear

out of thin air.

He created the characters

in all the series he appeared in.

As an actor he was productive

and open to improvement all his life.

What a blessing.

The world is a terrible place. Terrible.

But there are great people.

Tuncel Kurtiz was one of them.

How will you bury me?

The way you want to.

Well, I'd like some good red wine.

All Burhan Ouz books. The one on

the cultural roots of Turkey's people.

I have a blanket and pillow I love.

And some footage of the great roles

I have played until now.

Sr and Bedrettin Destan

for instance. Is that okay?

He had turned 70 when he said

he wanted to work another ten years.

Sometimes, I noticed little changes.

Maybe I will have the same issues.

It's like you're still young at heart

but you start to fall back physically.

You want to run like you used to

but your body says no.

You could feel he was getting tired.

He would show the signs.

We aren't the young people

we once were.

He had accepted the reality of it all.

Yes, we all know life is finite,

but it's still hard to comprehend.

Tuncel seemed immortal.

He had no problem with death.

Honestly.

Tuncel is like a song I discovered late

and then lost too soon.

I invited him to a concert

at Boazii University.

He promised to come.

Tickets were bought.

We were all going with Tuncel.

He turned up, we talked.

He wanted a whisky. I poured.

I don't like whisky that much

so added ice. He was angry at me.

He scolded me for using ice.

We had a few, then he left.

It was crazy. I was sitting at home

in Gmlk.

Tuncel had called me but I missed.

I received a call

to say Tuncel had passed away.

I woke up in the morning.

It was on the news strip on TV.

Tuncel Kurtiz had passed away.

That was the last time I saw him.

He died shortly after that.

I still keep that whisky.

There is still some in the bottle.

I'm the last person he called.

I regret missing that call so much.

I missed his call.

I feel so guilty.

He left a huge void behind him.

It was felt so intensely.

I asked a friend to buy a copy of all

the papers the day after his death.

Of the 16 newspapers he brought,

he was on the cover of them all.

Think about this. Whose death

in Turkey could make front page news

on 16 papers at once?

He kept inviting us to his village.

It's a shame we didn't go there

until the funeral.

Thousands of people turned up.

You can't have enough of Tuncel.

I wish we had more time with him.

His absence still feels strange.

It's different.

He had a famous saying.

We wanted to change the world,

but we couldn't.

We couldn't but,

the world couldn't change us either.

These were guiding words

of wisdom for me.

"We were born clean, we were

tainted, but we will die clean.

"This is what life is about," he'd say.

I planted about 30 olive trees

outside my house.

I'm 76 now.

I think of a Nazm Hikmet poem.

"Plant an olive even if you're 70.

"Not for future generations.

"When the desire to live weighs more."

I only wanted to take part in jobs

that I believed in. Those that I liked.

It's because I want to live

the way I feel is right.

You too, son?

I wanted to portray the injustice

and inequalities of my society.

To speak of our

crumbling democracy.

Because an artist reflects his era.

Travelled across the universe

for 14 thousand years.

I learned the name Stk in lunacy.

Drank my wine of divine love

in ecstasy

I accounted for it

at the ritual of the Forty Saints.

Now I see an endless dance

I hear the music and the song.

We don't understand death.

How easy it is for us to k*ll an insect,

to k*ll a human

without care. Then, we isolate death

cowardly and selfishly.

How quick we are to forget,

How easily we feel immortal.