YOL – The Full Version

Monumental piece of cinema about six Kurdish and Turkish prisoners who try to get their life back on track during a week’s leave from prison. Written by Kurdish director Yılmaz Güney while he was in prison himself. Now, Yol is restored and finally completed.

Yol is the rare film whose production may have been more dramatic than its story. Written while Kurdish director Yılmaz Güney was imprisoned by Turkey’s military junta, Yol was ultimately finished after Güney escaped prison and went into exile. Banned in Turkey until 1999 due to its depiction of Kurdish culture, this story of how five prisoners spent their week of leave won the Palme d’Or at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.

This newly produced ‘full’ version of the film, YOL - The Full Version, restores the sixth story that was in Güney’s original script, finally realising the late filmmaker’s vision for this legendary work of cinema.