Öz
Third Cinema has emerged as a reaction to Hollywood’s commercial
cinema in the 1960s and was fueled by the alternative movements in
the cinema such as Ukamau, Cinema Novo and so on. The genre has
reached our day by growing its ring of influence ever since. Cinema
movements with political themes and theoretical manifestos of the
1960s constitute the foundation of the Third Cinema. Appearing in the
form of low-budget films and radical manifestos of the chaotic political
era of the 1960s, Third Cinema began to be reciprocated in all the
developing, third world countries.
Led by directors such as Fernando Solanas, Octavio Getino and Julio
Garcia Espinosa in Latin America, Third Cinema led to the emergence
of an oppositional cinema movement as it also nestled the elements
of the political cinema. For the filmmakers who have wanted to
draw attention to the Third World, the two important figures of the
revolutionary movement in the 1960s, Che Guevara and Fanon have
been quintessential references. The early political developments, such
as the declaration of independence by Indonesia and Vietnam in 1945
and by Philippines in 1946, the birth of independent states of India
and Pakistan, the declaration of independence by Burma in 1948, and
last but not least the Chinese and Cuban revolutions created a specific
atmosphere for Third Cinema to bear its fruits. Gradually increasing
its ring of influence, the Third Cinema movements began its influence
in Turkey by the 1960s. The first representation of the Third Cinema
in Turkey dates back to the first months of the 1960s. Ertem Göreç’s
Karanlıkta Uyananlar (Those Awakening in the Dark) and Duygu
Sağıroğlu’s Bitmeyen Yol (The Never Ending Road) can be described as
the early examples of Third Cinema in Turkey. Needless to say, Yılmaz
Güney’s cinema is where the Third Cinema was most echoed. Many
films by Yılmaz Güney, which also bear traces of his life experiences,
meet the criteria of the Third Cinema.