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Demirkubuz dropped out of high school and started working in a textile workshop. He then worked as a street vendor for some time. After the 1980 coup d'état, he was imprisoned without trial for three years at the age of 17 for alleged communist activities and was tortured.
At the time, he was studying Communications Engineering at Istanbul University. Following his graduation, he became involved with movie making. After working as an assistant director, he established his own production company called "Mavi Film". Uncompromising and fiercely independent, Demirkubuz controls almost every aspect of his films, making few concessions to prevailing trends.
He started in the movie business as the assistant of director 'Zeki Okten' in 1986 and made his first film, "C Blok" in 1994. He was able to manage his projects with very low budgets due to the experience he gained while working as an assistant.
Some of his films are "Masumiyet" (1997), which was shown at Venice Film Festival and "Ücüncü Sayfa" (1999), also shown at many international film festivals like Locarno and Rotterdam. The films "Yazgi (2001) and "Itiraf" (2001) included in his "Mental Minefields: The Dark Tales" trilogy [written by Zeki Demirkubuz] were shown at Cannes Film Festival's "Uncompetitive section". He made "Bekleme Odasi" in 2003.
Demirkubuz refers to Dostoevsky in his cinematographic mentality. His scenarios grow on the ethical dilemmas of the human condition. He usually uses basic concepts such as love, passion, self-sacrifice, and the absurdity of life and death.
Zeki Demirkubuz's "Kader" won "The Best Film" prize at 2006 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul on January 26th, 1959. In 1976, he began studying chemical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, in a context of strong student unrest, boycotts and political polarization. In 1978, he switched courses to Electrical Engineering at Bogazici University. There, he developed a strong interest in image, entering the photography club at the university. This is also where he fed his taste for visual arts and classical music, by means of the vast resources of the faculty librarians. He also began to take film classes and attend screenings at the Film Society, which reinforced his love of cinema, born years earlier in the dark rooms of the Istanbul Cinematheque. After his 1985 Graduation, he traveled to London and Kathmandu, which allowed him to take the opportunity to reflect upon his future. He returned to Turkey for his 18 months military service and at that moment decided to dedicate his life to cinema. Thereafter, he studied film at the University Mimar Sinan, and worked as a professional photographer to make a living. After 2 years, he decided to abandon his studies to practice. He started with acting, in a short film directed by his friend Mehmet Eryilmaz, while helping with the technical production process. In late 1993, he began shooting his first short film, Koza. The film was screened at Cannes in May 1995 and became the first Turkish short film to be selected for competition. Three full-length feature films followed -the "provincial trilogy": Kasaba (1997), Mayis Sikintisi (1999) and Uzak (2002). In all of these films, Ceylan took on just about every technical role himself: the cinematography, sound design, production, editing, writing and direction. Uzak won the Grand Prix and Best Actor (for the two main actors) in Cannes in 2003, making Ceylan an internationally recognized director. Continuing his tour of festivals after Cannes, Uzak won no less than 47 awards, including 23 international prizes, and thus became the most awarded film in the history of Turkish cinema. His subsequent films were all awarded at Cannes : Iklimler won the FIPRESCI Prize in 2006, Üç Maymun won Best Director in 2008 and Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da won the Grand Prix in 2011. In 2014, his seventh feature film Kis Uykusu won the Palme d'Or as well as the FIPRESCI prize.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Semih Kaplanoglu is one of the most acclaimed writer-director-producers of contemporary filmmaking. Born and raised in Izmir, Turkey, he received BS in Cinema-Television from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Dokuz Eylul University, in 1984. Kaplanoglu made his debut feature in 2001 'Away From Home', and he was awarded Best Director in Singapore IFF. He then set up his own production company Kaplan Film and started writing and directing as an independent producer, making worldwide acclaimed international co-productions. In 2005, his second feature 'Angel's Fall' had World Premiere in Berlinale Forum and received Best Film Awards in Nantes, Kerala and Barcelona Alternativa FF. His third feature 'Egg', which premiered in 2007 at Cannes FF Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, brought Best Director awards in Fajr IFF, Valdivia IFF and Bangkok World FF. The film received around 30 awards including important national awards such as the Golden Orange (Antalya IFF) and the Golden Tulip award (Istanbul IFF). This film was the first part of the 'Yusuf Trilogy' which made Semih Kaplanoglu worldwide known as a director. In 2008 'Milk' which took part in L'Atelier of the Cinéfondation in 2008, premiered at Venice IFF Official Competition, screened at festivals around the world, earning him international awards, including Fipresci prize at the Istanbul IFF. 'Honey' the third part of the 'Yusuf Trilogy', winner of Golden Bear award in 60th Berlinale IFF, traces the origins of a soul. In 2013 Kaplanoglu was invited to Cannes FF as a member of Cinéfondation & Short Film Jury member. Semih Kaplanoglu's 2017 dated film 'Grain', received Best Film Award in 30th Tokyo Film Festival. This 35 mm Black&White shot film is a co-production of Turkey, Germany, France, Sweden and Qatar, with Jean-Marc Barr, Ermin Bravo, Grigory Dobrygin and Cristina Flutur as cast and English as original language. It took 5 years to complete the film. In 2018, he started working on 'Commitment Trilogy'. 2019 dated 'Commitment Asli' was the Academy Award Nominee of Turkey is the first digital film from the director. In 2020, 'Commitment Hasan' was finished just before the pandemic hit the world causing lock-down. Kaplanoglu is now working on the last part of the trilogy 'Commitment Fikret' which is an adaptation of well known Turkish author Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar's novel 'A Mind At Peace'. As a producer, he contributed his fellow director Aida Begic's 'Djeca' which earned a special mention in 2012 Cannes Un Certain Regard. The film is a Bosnian, German, French and Turkish co-production supported by Sarajevo Cinematograhy Fund, Eurimages, MDM, ZDF /ARTE, TRT, Fonds Sud Cinema and Torino Film Lab. Semih Kaplanoglu, born in 1963, has also written many articles based on plastic arts and cinema which have been translated into foreign languages and published in many magazines and journals between 1987 and 2003.