Bilge Olgaç

Bilge Olgaç — Biography

Bilge Olgaç was born in January 1940 in the Vize district of Kırklareli and became the fourth woman to direct films in Turkish cinema, a record she still holds today as the country's most prolific female director. She entered the industry as an assistant to director Memduh Ün, made her directing debut with Üçünüzü de Mıhlarım in 1965, and won Best Director at the 2nd Golden Boll (Altın Koza) Film Festival for Linç in 1970.

After stepping away from cinema between 1975 and 1984 to make photo-novels and advertising films, she returned to the screen in 1984 with Kaşık Düşmanı, which brought her the Best Screenplay award at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and the Grand Prix and Press Special Award at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival in France. Over a career of more than thirty years she directed close to forty films, writing most of the screenplays herself, and became known for centring her work on women's struggles against rural social oppression.

Olgaç died on 3 March 1994 in a house fire in Istanbul. The Flying Broom festival now presents an annual Bilge Olgaç Achievement Award in her memory, and her life was the subject of the documentary Kameranın Ardındaki Kadın Bilge Olgaç.