Yeşim Ustaoğlu

Yeşim Ustaoğlu was born in Sarıkamış in 1960. When he was only two years old, he moved to Trabzon with his family due to his father's job and spent his childhood here. After completing his architecture education at Karadeniz Technical University, he completed his master's degree in restoration at Yıldız Technical University.

Writing articles on cinema theory and contemporary cinema in art magazines, Ustaoğlu started his cinema career with short films.

Ustaoğlu, who shot his first short film "Capturing a Moment" in 1985, was deemed worthy of success and film awards at the IFSAK 6th International Short Film Festival with this film. Then, in 1986, he shot the short film "Magnafantanga" and this film was shown at the Oberhausen International Children's Film Festival. Continuing her short film work, Yeşim Ustaoğlu won the first prize in the Yunus Nadi Short Film Competition with her 35 mm short film called "Düet" in 1990.

His film "Hotel", which he shot in 35 mm format in 1991, was purchased by the Pompideu Museum of Modern Arts in Paris and won the grand prize at the 14th Mediterranean Montpellier Film Festival.

Following his award-winning short films, Ustaoğlu shot his first feature film "Iz" in 1994, and received the best film awards at the Istanbul, Cologne and Nuremberg film festivals with this film. The director, who shot the movie "Journey to the Sun" in 1999, won the Best European Film - Blue Angel and Heinrick Böll Peace Awards at the Berlin Film Festival with this movie.

He also received many awards at national and international festivals. He founded Ustaoğlu Film in 2003 to focus on feature film and documentary productions.

Yeşim Ustaoğlu, who shot the movie "Waiting for the Clouds" in 2004, won awards such as the NHK International Film Producers Award, the Istanbul Film Festival Special Jury Award and the Best Actress Award with this movie. She also participated in the Flying Broom Women's Film Festival with the documentary "The Life on Their Backs", which she shot during the research and development period of her film.

He completed the movie "Pandora's Box" in 2008, which received the "Crossroad - Best Project Award" at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in 2006. The film won the Best Film "Golden Oyster" and Best Actress "Silver Oyster" awards at the San Sebastián International Film Festival.

Yeşim Ustaoğlu contributed to her cinema career with many award-winning films and documentaries. His feature films include "Trace", "Journey to the Sun", "Waiting for the Clouds", "Pandora's Box", "Purgatory" and "Hesitation", while his short films include "Capturing a Moment", "Magnafantagna", "Duet" and "Hotel". Ustaoğlu continues to present successful and appreciated works to the world of cinema.

Productions in which he took part

• Her First (2019)
• Blockbuster: Monopolized Film Distribution in Türkiye (2016)
• You Have a Dream You've Been Waiting to Realize for Years (2022)
• Capturing a Moment

Production and imprint information was taken from TMDB.