Ümit Ünal

Ümit Ünal — Biography

Ümit Ünal (born 14 April 1965 in Tire, İzmir) is a Turkish film director, screenwriter and author. He graduated in 1985 from the Cinema and Television Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts at Dokuz Eylül University.

He began his career as a screenwriter, writing films such as Teyzem (1986), directed by Halit Refiğ, as well as Hayallerim, Aşkım ve Sen (1987), Arkadaşım Şeytan, Piano Piano Bacaksız and Berlin in Berlin. His feature directorial debut 9 (2002) won awards at several festivals and was Turkey's official entry for the 2003 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. He went on to write and direct Anlat İstanbul, Ara, Gölgesizler, Ses, Nar, Sofra Sırları, Aşk, Büyü, vs. and Evcilik (2024).

Ünal has published five books and, as an illustrator, held two solo exhibitions and produced four illustrated books. He has lived in Glasgow since 2020 and served as jury president of the 32nd Adana Altın Koza Film Festival in 2025.