Rest in peace, Bill...

So the body of Bill Barounis, the gentleman behind Onar Films, finally took the final step and greeted the ferryman. Bill didn't need any silver coins, his legacy was enough to bring him where he wanted to go. Yesterday Bill passed away after a period of illness. A fantastic man whose life was ridden with weird accidents, illness and just plain bad luck has left us.

Yeah, Bill was famous for all the fucking weird things that happen to him over the years, but something that was way stronger than those bad things was his enthusiasm for the art of Turkish cinema, his friends, his collecting and that was something that reduced his moments of misfortune to something not even worth mentioning.

I'm not gonna pretend that we where best buddies, but we had a lot of contact over the years and I - as many others - shared his love for world weird cinema. After watching Altin Cocuk I found one of the actresses, a Swedish woman, living in the same city as me and Bill was so happy that I found her and we decided to include her in an upcoming release of the next Golden Boy-release. That will never happen now, but it makes me happy to know how happy Bill was because of this.

Like me, he was a hothead, a man who could be very upset. I'm not even sure how many times he said Onar Films was over and that he would never release another film again - but like the passionate man he was there way always a new DVD, better and more unique than the last. That was Bill. The last email I got from him was in August, and he was the same old Bill then:

"I already lost faith, courage and motivation for this shit, but I've got 6-7 films in my hands I must release as I've paid for them already."

He NEVER gave up and to the end he was preparing the next release, Zagor Kara Bela. What will happen now I have no idea, but in the end the movies was just movies. Left behind is his family, his friends and relatives. Those that meant the most for him.

I mentioned the body of Bill at the top. That's the only thing that left this world. The spirit, the mind and passion belong of Bill will always be here with us, around us, telling us to look out for Kilink behind our back, watch the skies for Turkish Superman and swing life the way Captain Swing would do it.

Love and respect Bill, wherever you are.

/Fred