Duygu Sagiroglu(1932-2023)

Sagiroglu was born in 1932, in Trabzon, a small town on the Black Sea coast. Like Halit Refig, he grew up in Istanbul having little in common with his native town. He studied at Galatasaray ( a famous French high school located in Istanbul) where he certainly learned about French film traditions. This exposure to French culture and cinema later made itself apparent in the poesis and lyricism of "Bitmeyen Yol" (The Never Ending Road, 1965). Sagiroglu also studied architecture for a short while at Istanbul Technical University which opened up new artistic horizons for him. Unlike other filmmakers of the era, Sagiroglu also had a keen interest in theater and stage decoration mostly related to his background in architecture. He started his artistic career as a stage designer in "Kucuk Sahne" (Small Stage Theater) and took active part in the founding of The Association of Theater Players. In many of the important films of Atif Yilmaz and Memduh Un made during 1950s, Sagiroglu worked as a stage designer. "Bitmeyen Yol" made in 1965 is Sagiroglu's first and most successful directing experience also reflecting the highest stage of Turkish social realist movement. Telling the stories of migrant workers in difficulty to adjust themselves to the life style in Istanbul, the film was in a sense the "culminating point" of all previous artistic experiences and hardships. Although sometimes criticized for its religious emphasis and narrative complexity, the enigma of synthesizing cultural modernism, socio-political engagement and local-traditional colours that many social realist filmmakers tried to create in their own work between 1960-65, was finally solved in "Bitmeyen Yol". The film's script was also written by the director himself.

After "Bitmeyen Yol", Sagiroglu made "Ben Olurken Yasarim" (I Live as Long as I Die, 1966) with Yilmaz Guney as his lead actor. During the heated debates between the filmmakers and the leftist critics in the late 60s, Sagiroglu sided with the directors. His previous distance from Marxism and his penchant for religious mysticism made him easily reject social realism and support the "popular" film theory mostly advocated by Halit Refig. Having directed many unimportant films in the 70s, Sagiroglu later decided to focus completely on stage design. He won many awards with the work he did in the plays like "Abelard and Heloise", "The Chronicle of a Mad Man", "Hysteria" in the 80s and 90s. Like Metin Erksan and Halit Refig, Sagiroglu also joined the faculty at Mimar Sinan University, Department of Film. He is still working as a stage designer and takes part in successful productions.