Acclaimed Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan to pay compensation over using literary work without permission

Duvar English

A Turkish court has ordered the internationally-renowned director Nuri Bilge Ceylan to pay compensation to Polat Onat over using the latter's literary work in his 2018 movie The Wild Pear Tree ("Ahlat Ağacı" in Turkish) without permission.

Onat sued director Ceylan and the production company Zeyno Film in 2018 on the grounds that his literary work “The Unmixed Countryman” ("Su Katılmamış Taşralı" in Turkish) was used in The Wild Pear Tree movie without his permission, and demanded 40,000 liras.

Onat’s letter was published in the 1271st issue of the Turkish literary magazine Varlık. 

An Istanbul court decided Onat’s letter was used in the film without his permission and ordered Ceylan to pay compensation to Onat for “infringement," the daily Cumhuriyet reported on Jan. 6.

Competed for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, Ceylan’s movie focuses on a new graduate, Sinan, who is aspiring to be a writer while living in the countryside. 

“The Unmixed Countryman” letter was the subject of the dialogue between the main character Sinan and a writer named Süleyman.