Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (born 26 January 1959) is a Turkish film director and photographer, born in Istanbul. ¹ His Winter Sleep (2014) won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, and six of his nine feature films have been selected as Turkey's submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. ¹ No source read for this record attests a personal religion for him, and his faith is recorded as unknown in his data record. ¹

He was born in Bakırköy, Istanbul, to Mehmet Emin Ceylan, an agricultural engineer, and Fatma Ceylan, and spent most of his childhood in his father's hometown of Yenice, Çanakkale. ¹ He completed primary school in Yenice and high school in Istanbul, began studying chemistry at Istanbul Technical University in 1976, and transferred to Boğaziçi University in 1978 to study electrical engineering. ¹

At Boğaziçi he began to win recognition as a photographer: he was featured in Milliyet Sanat in 1982, published in magazines including Gergedan during the 1980s, and in 1989 won a national competition to represent Turkey at an international Kodak event, taking part in shoots in London and Kathmandu. ¹ After military service in Mamak, Ankara, he studied film at Mimar Sinan University. ¹

His short Cocoon (Koza, 1995) was the first Turkish short film screened at the Cannes Film Festival. ¹ His first feature, Kasaba (The Small Town, 1997), opened a "provincial trilogy" completed by Clouds of May (1999), starring his father, and Distant (Uzak, 2002). ¹ Ceylan took on much of the production himself — writing, cinematography and directing — and cast mainly family members and amateurs. ¹ Distant won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2003, and its two stars were jointly awarded Best Actor. ¹

Climates (2006), co-starring Ceylan and his wife Ebru Ceylan, won the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. ¹ Three Monkeys (2008), his first film with professional actors, won Best Director at Cannes. ¹ Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) won the Grand Prix at Cannes a second time. ¹ Winter Sleep (2014) won the Palme d'Or, the first Turkish film to do so since Yol in 1982. ¹

The Wild Pear Tree (2018) follows a young writer who returns to his hometown seeking sponsors for his book while his father's gambling worsens. ¹ About Dry Grasses (2023) premiered at Cannes, where its star Merve Dizdar won Best Actress. ¹

His recurring themes include estrangement, existentialism, monotony and the human experience; he uses static shots and long takes in natural settings, silence to create unease, and often films his protagonists from behind so that audiences speculate on their motives. ¹

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