Onat Kutlar was born in
Alanya, Turkey, on 25 January 1936. He was the grandson of Arif Pasha, an Ottoman governor of the
Taif district and the son of Ali Riza Bey, a penal judge of the young Turkish Republic and later a farmer, and Meliha Hanim. He was raised in
Gaziantep. He studied law at
Istanbul University and philosophy in
Paris. His book,
Ishak (1959), composed of nine short stories, most of which are written from the point of view of a child and are often
surrealistic and
mystical was the recipient of the 1960 "Turkish Language Association Short Story Award". According to the literary critic
Fethi Naci, these short stories represent a very early example of
magical realism genre. In 1985, he was a member of the jury at the
35th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1994, he was awarded with
L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and in 1975 Cultural Medal of Poland for his work in the Turkish Sinematek. He died on 11 January 1995 in
Istanbul resulting from injuries sustained in a bomb attack (claimed by
İBDA-C, later revealed to be carried out by PKK) which occurred on 30 December 1994 at The Marmara Hotel's cafeteria in
Taksim Square, Istanbul. He was laid to rest at the
Aşiyan Asri Cemetery. He was married to Filiz Kutlar. The
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize in the National Competition of the
Istanbul International Film Festival is named after him to commemorate his contributions to the
Turkish cinema. ==Bibliography==