A remembrance | Agâh Özgüç (1932-2022)

My friend Agâh Efendi,

It's been fifty years since you descended from the Babıâli hill to Yeşilçam. You loved cinema so much; producing so much work could only be achieved through love. Otherwise, who would have written the glossary of cinema, the "Dictionary of Turkish Films 1914-2008"? This book has become an inventory of our cinema. It's a work greatly utilized by the Ministry of Culture, film-professional associations, and film critics. With your latest English translation, you've inscribed your name in world cinema history. You've also documented the memories of cinema's secret history in dozens of books. Your first book, "Turkish Cinema with Posters," the "Dictionary of Turkish Film Producers and Directors," countless exhibitions... Tens of thousands of documents and their publications. You are a true culmination of the title of chronicler Agâh. Spending sixty years of a seventy-seven-year life writing, and then producing and collecting documents throughout all of those years, publishing them and offering them to institutions and universities... A life can only be lived this productively.

My dear Agâh, you have received countless awards. But being crowned with the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts' Cinema Honorary Award is, in my opinion, the greatest of all.

Live long, produce much, dear Agâh.- Necip Sarıcı dedication address when Agâh Özgüç was awarded the Cinema Honorary Award at the 28th Istanbul Film Festival in 2009.

Agah Özgüç passed away in Istanbul on Thursday, April 28, 2022. His funeral was held at the Üsküdar Şakirin Mosque following the afternoon prayer on Friday, April 29, 2022, was attended by Özgüç's family as well as many figures from the world of culture and art and he was buried at the Karacaahmet Cemetery.

AGAH ÖZGÜÇ

Agâh Özgüç, or Agâh Nedim Özgüç (January 7, 1932, Kocaeli - April 27, 2022, Istanbul), was a Turkish writer, critic, and journalist.

Özgüç was born on January 7, 1932, in the Kandıra district of Kocaeli. His mother's side is Georgian from Batumi, and his father's side is Bulgarian. He attended Yeşilköy Pension School and Haydarpaşa High School.

In the 1950s, he wrote poems and essays for numerous literary magazines published in Istanbul and the provinces under the influence of Attila İlhan, including Yelken, Petek, Şairler Yapragi, Türk Sanati, and Salkım. 

He began professional journalism in 1961. He worked in the film-magazine-focused magazines of the time, such as Artist, Sinema, Ses, and Perde. He continued his work periodically in the newspapers Hafta Sonu, Ekspres, Akşam, Yeni Gazete, and Milliyet (Sunday newspaper), as well as in monthly magazines such as Erkekce, Kadınca, Bravo, Playboy, and Playmen. 

He wrote for TV's 7 Days, Video News, Gelişim Cinema; Album, Öküz, Cumhuriyet Magazine, Antrakt, Popular Cinema, Beyaz Perde, Popular History, and many other magazines, the number of which she has lost count. He contributed visual material from her private archives to many publications. She also consulted on film documentaries. Meanwhile, he edited the 12-issue Cinema 65 magazine. Her 10-year tenure at the renowned weekly magazine Pazar passed. She retired from Has Holding's Haftanın Sesi Newspaper, where he spent another 10 years, without receiving her full severance pay. 

He used the name Berna İlhan pen name in some of his articles and books. He wrote from the popular publications to the most serious newspapers, from outside to inside, that is, with or without a staff, periodical or temporary. In this 55-year period, there was hardly a publication he didn't write for or work for.

And despite all this effort, he still couldn't make it to the top in this country from an economic perspective.

He assisted Tarık Dursun K on the film "Kelebekler Çift Uçar" (The Butterflies Fly in Pairs). He organized exhibitions of Turkish Film Posters both at home and abroad.

He published his first book jointly with Giovanni Scognamillo.

Since 1961, he has made his living solely as a writer. Currently, in addition to working on new books, he has been writing for Milliyet Art Magazine for nine years. It is unclear where he will write tomorrow, depending on the country's conditions.

He became a film writer, receiving the Golden Artemis award from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University in 1992 for his contributions to Turkish Cinema with his visual materials and book works. In 1992-93, he received the Cinema Award from the Ankara Art Association for the same reasons. In 2004, he was chosen as the "Filmperson of the Year" by IFSA. In 1999, the Aziz Nesin Labor Award was given by the 11th Ankara International Film Festival for the following reason: "...he has endlessly documented all the important, even seemingly insignificant, details about our cinema. Those who research any truth about our cinema cannot do without consulting his books. It is impossible to understand and accurately evaluate our cinema without studying his documents. He was deemed worthy of this most important award because he continued this work throughout his life."

Most recently, in 2007, he received the 'Labor Award' from the Anadolu University Faculty of Communication Sciences at the 9th International Eskisehir Film Festival. And in 2009, he was given the 'Cinema Honorary Award' at the 28th Istanbul Film Festival. 

Major Books [in Turkish]:

Genre Film Dictionary 1914-1992, 4 volumes/Sesam Publishing.

Genre Cinema Censorship File/Koza

Firsts in Genre Cinema/Yılmaz

Cinema in its 80th Year/Culture Ministry

Cinema: A File on Murders and Suicides/Theater

Film Producers Dictionary/Fiyap

Cinema from Its Beginning to the Present in 100 Films/Bilgi

Şoray - A Diva in Genre Cinema/Açikşehir

Yılmaz Güney with All His Films/Agora

Turkish Film Directors Dictionary/Agora

Genre Cinema in Posters/Mimeray

Turkish Cinema in Genres/World

Notes from the Diary of a Film Critic/PMP 

The History of Sexuality in Genre Cinema/PMP

Cinema in 1000 Frames/Golden Orange

Producers, Films, and Posters/Horizon ·

Istanbul in Turkish Cinema/Horizon

Major Books [in Turkish]:

TürkFilmleri Sözlüğü 1914-1992, 4 cilt/Sesam Yay.

Türk Sineması Sansür Dosyası/Koza

Türk Sineması'nda İlkler /Yılmaz

80. Yılında Türk Sineması/Kültür Bakanlığı

Türk Sineması'nda Cinayetler ve İntiharlar Dosyası/Vizyon

Türk Film Yapımcıları Sözlüğü /Fiyap

100 Filmde Başlangıcından Günümüze Türk Sineması/Bilgi

Türkan Şoray - Türk Sinemasında Bir Diva/ Açıkşehir

Bütün Filmleriyle Yılmaz Güney/ Agora

Türk Film Yönetmenleri Sözlüğü/ Agora

Afişlerle TürkSineması/Mimeray

Türlerle Türk Sineması/Dünya

Bir Sinema Yazarının Günlüğünden Aykırı Notlar /PMP .

Türk Sinemasında Cinselliğin Tarihi/PMP

1000 Karede Türk Sineması/ Altın Portakal

Yapımcılar, Filmler ve Afişler /Horizon ·

Türk Sinemasında lstanbul/Horizon