Cahide Sonku (born Cahide Serap; 27 December 1912 – 18 March 1981) was a Turkish actress, model, writer and the first female

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Sonku was the founder of her own movie production company, Sonku Film, in 1950. She was thrice married and divorced.

Life

Sonku' first theater and cinema experience was during her secondary school education. She was accepted into Darülbedayi when she was only 16 years old, and in time she took her place among the most popular actors of Istanbul City Theatres. She started acting with "Seven Village Zeynebi" first at the People's Houses Theater, then at the Istanbul Municipality Conservatory, and then at Darülbedayi (1932-City Theaters), discovered by Muhsin Ertuğrul who was an important figure in Sonku's career. Sonku founded the production company "Sonku Film" in 1950 and however went bankrupt in 1963 due to a fire that burned down the company building. She continued working at the ''City Theater'' through Muhsin Ertuğrul's influence, then left and struggled with alcohol addiction in the last years of her life. Sonku received the

Turkish Film Critics Association Turkish Film Critics Association ( or SİYAD) is a non-governmental organization based in Istanbul, founded in 1977 by film critic Atilla Dorsay. It distributes the annual Turkish Film Critics Association Awards and also a member of the Internatio ...

service award in 1979 and died in 1981 at the ''Alkazar Cinema'' in Istanbul, at the age of 61. She was buried in Zincirlikuyu Cemetery. Cahide Sonku Prize is awarded in her memory at the annual

Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival (), known for a few years from 2015 as Antalya International Film Festival, is a film festival, held annually since 1963 in Antalya, and is the second most important film festival in Turkey. Since 2009, t ...

Cultural depictions

*In 1989, the series Cahide is based from life of Cahide Sonku. It starring Hale Soygazi as Cahide. *In 2013, the short film "Kayıkçı" starring Merih Fırat as Cahide. *In 2014, the short film "100-5=Cahide" starring Farah Zeynep Abdullah as Cahide. *In 2016, the short film "Cahide" starring İpek Bilgin as Cahide. https://www.trtizle.com/trtarsiv/cahide

Filmography

References

External links

* 1911 births 1981 deaths Actresses from Istanbul Turkish film actresses Turkish film directors 20th-century Turkish actresses Yemeni emigrants Immigrants to Turkey {{Turkey-actor-stub