About the Festival

Toronto Turkish Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing contemporary Turkish arthouse cinema, with a strong emphasis on supporting independent voices and emerging filmmakers. Our mission is to create a platform that fosters cross-cultural dialogue, challenges dominant narratives, and amplifies diverse perspectives within Turkish cinema.

We envision a vibrant cultural space where Turkish independent cinema finds a global audience, emerging filmmakers gain international visibility, and new narratives from Turkiye enrich Toronto’s multicultural film landscape. Through curated screenings and community engagement, we introduce Toronto audiences to the richness and diversity of contemporary Turkish cinema. We also offer meaningful exposure and support to Turkish independent filmmakers in the international arena.

Mission

Vision

Our team

Fatma Özen

Founding Director

Board of Directors

Meylin Günel

Director

Berker Gezer

Director

Esra Kars

Esra has built her career in cinema through roles as a film critic and scriptwriter. She was a core member of Fil’m Hafızası’s Discovery Team and served on pre-juries at the Çalı Köy and Güzel Ordu film festivals. She coordinated events at Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival, managed productions at Kaltfilm, represented Talents Sarajevo as a press delegate, and continues to write for Bağımsız Sinema.

Süreyya Yıldız

Süreyya is a writer and researcher whose work explores gender, media, and storytelling. She develops creative projects through screenwriting and advanced storytelling workshops and contributes critical perspectives on representation in film and television. Moving fluidly between the screen and the page, her work highlights cinema’s power not only to reflect the world but also to reshape it.

Nil Tuana Gökçe

Nil is a creative professional whose work bridges visual communication and cinema. At Kaltfilm, she contributes creative design that supports film production and promotion. Her practice combines aesthetics with storytelling, producing visually engaging projects that highlight her passion for both design and cinema. She continues to expand her role in the media and film industry.

Programming Team

Nurten Bayraktar

Working at the intersection of literature and cinema, Nurten develops resources and training on environmentally conscious film practices and contributes film reviews. She has coordinated festivals and curated screenings in Türkiye and abroad, collaborating with AFSAD, Sabancı Foundation, Akbank Sanat, İzmir Film Lab, British Council, and the Turkish British Centre. She is Short and Documentary Film Coordinator at the Ankara Film Festival and co-founder of EkoFilm: Sürdürülebilir Yapım Platformu.

Hüseyin Çakır

Hüseyin Çakır is an active voice in the film community through his festival coverage, including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and his cinema-focused Instagram page for Turkish audiences. He also writes as a film critic for Arakat Mag and Raf Dergi. With a background in visual arts and design, his work explores the connection between visual communication and film culture.

Social Media Team

Aslı Ildır

After completing her undergraduate studies in Political Science and Film Studies at Boğaziçi University, Aslı earned her MA in Cinema and Television from Bahçeşehir University and completed her PhD in Film Studies and Visual Culture at the University of Antwerp and Koç University. She is currently a postdoctoral lecturer in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Kadir Has University and an editor at Altyazı Film Magazine. In 2017, she was selected for the Berlinale and Sarajevo Film Festival Talents programs as a film writer.