Biography
Born in Istanbul in 1959, Nuri Bilge Ceylan was only two when his family relocated to his father?s hometown of Yenice in the North Aegean countryside. Together with his older sister Emine, Ceylan spent his childhood roaming the provincial landscape until the family was forced to return to Istanbul in 1969, due to a lack of adequate post-primary schooling in Yenice.
Ceylan graduated from high school in 1976 and originally started studying chemical engineering at Istanbul Technical University, but due to the political unrest prevalent in Istanbul, he switched to electrical engineering at Bogazici University. It was here that Ceylan?s interest in photography blossomed, and this interest turned to passion once he began his elective film studies course. He enrolled in a film course at the Mimar Sinan University after he had graduated from Bogaizici, but abandoned the course soon after due to his desire to make haste into the filmmaking profession.
Towards the end of 1993, Ceylan started shooting his first short, COCOON, which was the first Turkish short to be selected in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Three feature-length films followed, which have been classified as a loose ?provincial trilogy?: THE SMALL TOWN (1997), CLOUDS OF MAY (1999) and DISTANT (2002). With DISTANT, Ceylan really hit his stride: the film won a total of 47 awards at various national and international festivals and competitions, including the Grand Prix at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. CLIMATES (2006), in which Ceylan and his wife starred, was his next Cannes triumph, winning the FIPRESCI prize, and Ceylan won Cannes? Best Director two years later with THREE MONKEYS (2008).
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA (2011), is the director?s masterpiece. Comprised of mesmerising images (indicative of Ceylan?s photographic prowess) and a storyline which is as ponderous as it is tense, ANATOLIA won Cannes? Grand Prix as well as Karlovy Vary?s Netpac Award and the Jury Grand Prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
