Zeki Demirkubuz

Zeki Demirkubuz Films

"As a filmmaker, what attracts me most in human nature is its dark side." Zeki Demirkubuz.

"Zeki Demirkubuz is one of the utterly unclassifiable talents Turkish cinema has quietly produced to surprise, delight and challenge the world. He seems surprised that his serious films have struck such an international chord. Yet he is one of a select club of directors to have had two films competing at Cannes at the same time [Fate (2001) and Confession (2002)]..." Fiachra Gibbons, Guardian, 2006.

"Together with a handful of others, Demirkubuz has been leading a revolution in Turkish cinema for the past decade.... His protagonists all have astonishingly rich, varied and at times frightening personal psychologies, yet one never feels that their inner worlds are completely divorced from the external circumstances of their lives - or even their experiences in reality." Mental Minefields: The Dark Tales of Zeki Demirkubuz, Film Society of Lincoln Center, 2007.

Kutlug Ataman

Kutlug Ataman Films

Acclaimed filmmaker, known for work with strong characterisation and humanity. Also an established and renowned artist who uses the moving image as his main medium of expression.

Kutlug Ataman was the 2011 laureate of the third European Cultural Fund 'Routes' Princess Margriet Award for cultural diversity.

Kutlug Ataman also reaches audiences in museums and galleries, using his skills as a filmmaker to cross over into the contemporary art world. Using real people as his subjects, Ataman's camera and subtle interventions allow them to tell their stories. Following the success of his first art piece, an affectionate and compelling work about a Turkish opera diva in her eighties, Ataman's work has dealt with subjects whose infectious obsessions and passions appeal to both critics and publics. His work has been shown at the most important events in the contemporary art calendar - including the Venice, Sao Paulo, Berlin and Istanbul Biennials, and Germany's Documenta - and in galleries worldwide including MoMA New York, Bilbao's Guggenheim Museum and London's Tate.

He won the Carnegie Prize in Pittsburgh in 2004, was one of the four shortlisted artists for the 2004 Turner Prize, and in 2009 won the Abraaj Capital Art Prize. In 2003 the UK's Observer newspaper selected him artist of the year. His works are in public and private collections worldwide, including MoMA New York, Tate Modern, London, Thyssen- Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna, the Dimitris Daskalopoulos Collection, Athens, the Istanbul Modern and the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh. In 2009 new works were given their first showing in Linz, European Capital of Culture 2009, and in London at the Whitechapel Gallery and Thomas Dane Gallery. His work was also exhibited in Istanbul, Lille, Basel, Gothenburg, Paris, Malmo and Cologne during 2009. In 2010 he exhibited in Istanbul, Rome, Sydney, London and Berlin and in 2011 he had exhibitions in Bilbao, London, Istanbul and Brighton. His work led ArtAsiaPacific to include him as one of their 5 Artists of the Year in their 2011 Almanac.

Yilmaz Guney

Yilmaz Guney Films

"Those who sing revolutionary songs when everything is quiet prefer to hide behind doors when things get difficult." Yilmaz Guney.

"The critic J. Hoberman once described the Turkish filmmaker Yilmaz Guney as 'something like Clint Eastwood, James Dean, and Che Guevara combined', and for anyone familiar with the particulars of his career, it is sometimes astonishing that this roughneck-star-auteur ever actually existed." Bilge Ebiri, Senses of Cinema, 2005.

Up & Coming

Up & Coming Filmmakers

Up & Coming filmmakers winning awards and recognition in prestigious festivals such as Tribeca, Rotterdam and Istanbul.

It will be precise to say Turkish film industry is booming. Every year new directors are breaking through with first features gaining recognition in local and international film festivals while attracting audiences to movie theaters accross the world. In 2010, Antalya International Film Festival had 33 first features by Turkish directors, which marked the highest point in Festival's history.

Up & Coming

Internationally Acclaimed

Films from TurkishFilmChannel catalog with awards and recognition in prestigious international festivals such as Cannes, Tribeca, Rotterdam, Locarno, Berlin, London, Valencia and Istanbul.

Turkish film industry is on a roll capturing the attention of both the local and international audience with its increasing quality and sophistication. Not many critics will be surprised if a Turkish film receives the Best Foreign Language Academy Award in the next few years as the emerging Turkish filmmakers have already been coming close.

Festival de Cannes

Films from Festival de Cannes

Films from TurkishFilmChannel catalog with awards and recognition in Cannes Film Festival.

Ever since its creation, the Festival de Cannes has remained faithful to its founding purpose: to draw attention to and raise the profile of films with the aim of contributing towards the development of cinema, boosting the film industry worldwide and celebrating cinema at an international level.

The Official Selection serves to highlight the diversity of cinematic creation through its different sections, the two most important of which are the Competition and Un Certain Regard. Films that are representative of "arthouse cinema with a wide audience appeal" are presented in Competition, and Un Certain Regard focuses on works that have an original aim and aesthetic. The Official Selection also includes Out of Competition films, Special Screenings and Midnight Screenings, Cannes Classics and the Cinefondation selection targeting film schools.