Alphan Eşeli

Alphan Eşeli — Biography

Alphan Eşeli is a director, screenwriter, producer and photographer whose work runs from commercials and music videos to feature films, television series and festival organising. His main works include his first feature, Eve Dönüş: Sarıkamış 1915 (The Long Way Home), and the first Turkish vampire series, Yaşamayanlar. Mutter: Bir Annenin Hatıra Defteri, which he wrote and directed, with Hazar Ergüçlü in the lead, had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2026.

He spent his childhood in Munich and graduated from the New York Institute of Technology with a master's degree in filmmaking. He first made award-winning commercials and music videos for major Turkish brands and worked as a fashion photographer; in 2011 he directed the video for Hole's Samantha. In 2009 he co-founded the international arts and culture platform ISTANBUL 74 with his wife, Demet Müftüoğlu. Eve Dönüş: Sarıkamış 1915, released in 2013, follows survivors trying to make their way home after the Battle of Sarikamish; it won the Fipresci Prize and the Golden Zenith at Montreal and the Best New Talent award in Hong Kong, was nominated for the Sutherland Award at the BFI London Film Festival, and screened at more than 30 festivals.

In later years he turned to short films and series. Küçük Kurşunlar (Little Bullets), about a mother and daughter who fled Syria, had its world premiere at Telluride in 2016 and also screened at the New York Film Festival. He wrote and directed Yaşamayanlar (Immortals), inspired by his short Mia, for BluTV in 2018; Netflix acquired it in 2019 and distributed it worldwide.