Tevfik Başer

Tevfik Başer — Biography

Tevfik Başer was born on 12 January 1951 in Çankırı. After finishing high school in Eskişehir in 1971, he moved to England in 1973 to study graphic design, stage design and photography, then worked from 1978 to 1980 at the Eskişehir TV Institute as a photography and graphic artist and later as a cameraman. In 1980 he relocated to Germany, graduating from the Visual Communication department of the Hamburg University of Fine Arts in 1987.

He began his filmmaking career with the 1983 documentary "Zwischen Gott und Erde", and his 1986 feature debut "40 Quadratmeter Deutschland" (40 Square Meters of Germany) won the Silver Leopard in Locarno, the Golden Squirrel in Amsterdam and the Golden Lion in Rotterdam. His second feature, "Abschied vom falschen Paradies" (Farewell to a False Paradise), screened in competition at the 1989 Berlin Film Festival and won the Civis award in Cologne and a best-film award in Strasbourg. His third feature, "Lebewohl, Fremde" (Farewell, Stranger), was selected for the Un Certain Regard section of the 1991 Cannes Film Festival and earned him a best-director award in Verona. He also wrote the screenplay for "Dilekler Zamanı", which received Germany's Adolf Grimme Award.

He is the son of Musa Başer, an Eskişehir notary who helped build the city's Esnaf Sarayı, and the brother of pharmacist Prof. Dr. Hüsnü Can Başer.