Ertem Egilmez

Ertem Egilmez, born way back in '29 in Trabzon, is one of those names that keeps popping up if you ever dig into classic Turkish cinema. The guy was pretty much everywhere, wearing both the director’s and producer’s hats—sometimes at the same time, which honestly sounds exhausting. His movies? Absolute staples. We’re talking Canim Kardesim from 1973—oh man, if you haven’t cried at least once watching that, you probably have a heart of stone. And then there’s Kalbimin Efendisi, which dropped in 1970. That one’s all about love, heartbreak, and the kind of melodrama only old-school Turkish films can pull off without making you roll your eyes. But, honestly, Hababam Sinifi: Sinifta Kaldi, released in ‘75, might just be his crown jewel. The Hababam Sinifi series is like Turkey’s answer to American high school comedies, except it’s got way more heart and way less Hollywood gloss. It’s basically chaos in a classroom, with students constantly outsmarting their teachers, playing pranks, and breaking every rule in the book—but somehow, you end up rooting for them the whole time. Egilmez had this knack for mixing humor with real, gut-punch emotion. He made you laugh, then suddenly you’d be dealing with some heavy theme about family or growing up, and it just hits different. He passed away in Istanbul in ‘89, but his films are still all over Turkish TV, especially on lazy Sunday afternoons. The guy left a mark, no doubt about it.