Tell us a bit about yourself - all the basics! Where you’re from, where you grew up, interests, hobbies, siblings, causes you’re passionate about, anything else that comes to mind…

I was born in Istanbul in the early ’90s, into a very colorful Turkish and Kurdish household. Both of my parents worked full-time, so I was raised collectively by a circle of strong and loud women from both sides of my family. I was also surrounded by my parents’ comrades, people who had devoted their lives to equality and justice. We lived in a poor, multicultural neighborhood in Istanbul, what we called a gecekondu, where our neighbors came from all walks of life. Growing up around this mix of people and their stories has shaped who I am today and the way I make films.

How did you become interested in film?

It happened slowly. I remember grabbing my dad’s camcorder to make home films with my sister and cousin, or interviewing anyone I could find. I also remember a family friend who worked in a cinema sneaking us in, and I’d watch two or three films in a row, no matter the genre. I just loved being in the cinema and getting lost there.

Somehow though, I ended up studying journalism. I guess I was drawn to the urgency of the stories I wanted to tell. At university, I joined a student collective, where besides fighting for a better future, we made grassroots films and journalism, organised youth film festivals, and ran art workshops for kids in underprivileged neighborhoods in summer times. So yes, films were sometimes my escape from the chaos, but my approach to filmmaking has always been the same: How can it be part of change?

Over time my relationship with film has grown deeper. And I can see that filmmaking has become a part of me I can’t give up. Maybe I’m not as fiery as I was in my twenties, but I’ll always keep asking myself that same question through my films. So I don’t lose my hope.

How did you arrive at the subject of your Close Up project?

My film is about one of my closest friends, Efruz. We met through that student collective in university I mentioned, when we were very young. After I graduated I left Turkey and she stayed. Years later, I heard from her again. And at our first reunion, we decided to make a film about her journey to becoming one of the first openly transgender lawyers in Turkey. At first that’s what we thought the film would be about, but over these seven years, the story deepened and became much more than that.

Other than documentaries of course, what’s your favorite film genre and why?

I mean this isn’t very documentary-like, but I’m a big fan of sci-fi and fantasy. Doesn’t matter how trashy the film is, I’ll just watch it. Sorry, not sorry.

What accomplishment thus far are you most proud of?

I’m proud that -slowly but surely- I can accept the word “accomplishment” without immediately feeling the need to self-criticise.

Anything you'd like to add?

Everything feels out of control and upsetting right now. We keep hearing awful news every day. We as documentary filmmakers are also both witnesses and victims and survivors of these events. But I really want to stay on the side of hope and solidarity. And I send my solidarity to all the people and filmmaking colleagues who are resisting evil in every possible way. In that spirit, I’d also like to share a short excerpt from a poem by Arkadaş Zekai Özger, a queer revolutionary Turkish poet we lost in the ’70s. (The translation isn’t perfect.)

“Open the window.

Let your voice shake the world

it will be heard,

even from afar.

The heart recognises itself.”