Experiences - Nuri Bilge Ceylan
A conversation will be held with Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a great master and the pride of our cinema, about cinema and short films. Ceylan has said about the upcoming event: "I like watching short films, I always have, it is a free field where personalities stand out far from commercial concerns. It is also valuable for me to be able to meet young people on the occasion of Akbank Short Film Festival."
Nuri Bilge Ceylan was born in Istanbul on January 26, 1959. In 1976, he started studying chemical engineering at the Istanbul Technical University, in a context of strong student, social and political unrest.
In 1978, he continued with a degree in electrical engineering at the University of the Bosphorus. There he developed a strong interest in photography and joined the university’s photography club. It is also there that he nourishes his taste for visual arts and classical music, thanks to the vast library resources of the faculty. He began taking film classes and attending film club screenings, which reinforced his love of cinema, born years earlier in the darkened halls of the Istanbul Cinematheque.
After graduating in 1985, he travels to London and Kathmandu, and takes the opportunity to reflect on his future. He returned to Turkey to do his military service for 18 months. It is at this time that he decides to dedicate his life to cinema.
After his service, he studied cinema at Mimar Sinan University, while becoming a professional photographer to earn a living. After 2 years, he abandons his university studies to go into practice. He started acting in a short film directed by his friend Mehmet Eryilmaz, while partici- pating in the technical process of making it.
At the end of 1993, he started shooting his first short film, KOZA. The film was screened in Cannes in May 1995 and became the first Turkish short film selected for the Cannes Film Festival.
On his first three feature films, KASABA (1997), CLOUDS OF MAY (1999) and UZAK (2003), Ceylan takes care of several technical jobs himself: image, sound design, editing, writing, directing, producing...
UZAK won the Grand Prix and the Best Actor Award for the two leads at Cannes in 2003, making Ceylan an internationally recognized direc- tor. Continuing his festival tour after Cannes, UZAK won no less than 47 awards, including 23 international ones, and thus became the most awarded film in the history of Turkish cinema.
His next films all won awards at Cannes. In 2006, CLIMATES won the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Award, in 2008 THREE MONKEYS won the Best Director Award and in 2011 ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA won the Grand Prix again.
In 2014, his seventh feature film WINTER SLEEP won the Palme d’Or and the FIPRESCI International Press Award. With THE WILD PEAR TREE, in 2018, he returned to the Official Selection in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.
His latest film ABOUT DRY GRASSES won the Best Actress Award in 2023 at the Cannes Film Festival.
* All workshops and talks organized as part of the 19th Akbank Short Film Festival are free of charge. Participation is limited to side events of the festival.
* You can get your event participation card from Akbank Sanat's information desk one hour before the event.