Senem Tüzen

Senem Tüzen — Biography

Senem Tüzen is a filmmaker who works as a director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor. She is best known for her first feature, Motherland (Ana Yurdu, 2015), a film about the mother-daughter relationship and its links to the political climate of Turkey, which travelled from Venice to Tbilisi. The documentary Eat Your Catfish, which she co-directed, became the first Turkish documentary to win an Emmy.

After studying cinema and television at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University she started with short films: Ali'nin Düşü, Nazif Bey, Fareler (Rats), Unus Mundus and Süt ve Çikolata (Milk and Chocolate). She won the IFSAK Best Short Film award twice, for Fareler and Süt ve Çikolata. She also worked as a cinematographer on other directors' films, among them Ölüm Elbisesi: Kumalık. Through Zela Film, the company she founded with friends, she produced the travel documentary series Adem'in Seyir Defteri (2009-2012), 39 episodes of which aired on TRT Türk; the company also produced her documentary A Life Without Words (Una Vida Sin Palabras, 2011), about three deaf siblings in rural Nicaragua.

Motherland had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival; it won five awards at the Adana Golden Boll festival, the FIPRESCI and NETPAC prizes in Warsaw, Best Screenplay at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards and Best Film in Tbilisi. Eat Your Catfish was shown at IDFA and named Best Documentary at the Istanbul Film Festival.