Nuri Bilge Ceylan (, born 26 January 1959) is a Turkish photographer, filmmaker and actor best known for the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

winning '' Winter Sleep'' (2014).

Early life

Ceylan was born in Istanbul on 26 January 1959. His interest in photography started at the age of 15. While studying at

Boğaziçi University Boğaziçi University ( tr, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi), also known as Bosphorus University, is a major research university in Istanbul, Turkey. Its main campus is located on the European side of the Bosphorus strait. It has six faculties and t ...

he participated in cinema and photography clubs and he took passport-style photos to make some money. After graduating from university with a bachelor of science degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, he went to London and

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

, Nepal, to decide what to do in life. Then he went back to Ankara, Turkey, to do

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job ( volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations (e.g., Mexico) require ...

. When he was in the army, he discovered that cinema would give shape to his life.

Style and themes

Ceylan's films deal with the estrangement of the individual,

existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...

, the monotony of human lives, and the details of everyday life. He uses static shots and

long take In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take or continuous shot) is a shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate bl ...

s, usually in natural settings, as well as play with sound, including the use of menacing silences. He is known for filming his

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

from behind, which, in his view, leaves the audiences to speculate on the brooding emotions of characters whose faces are obscured. Ceylan's first films were made on low budgets, with casts generally consisting of amateur actors, most of whom were his family and neighbours.

Personal life

He is married to filmmaker, photographer, and actress

Ebru Ceylan Ebru Ceylan (, born 26 January 1976) is a Turkish photographer, actress, screenwriter and art director. She is married to collaborator Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Ebru Yapıcı was born in Ankara and studied film and television at Marmara University and ...

, with whom he co-starred in ''

Climates Climate is the long-term weather pattern in an area, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological ...

'' (2006). He directed his cousin

Mehmet Emin Toprak Mehmet Emin Toprak (11 September 1974 – 2 December 2002) was a Turkish film actor. Toprak starred in the critically acclaimed 2002 film ''Uzak''. He died in a car crash on the way back from the Ankara Film Festival, near the town of Çan at ...

in three films. Ceylan named his ten favorite films in the "2012 Sight & Sound Greatest Films Poll": ''

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of th ...

'' (1966), ''

Au Hasard Balthazar ''Au Hasard Balthazar'' (; meaning "Balthazar, at Random"), also known as ''Balthazar'', is a 1966 French drama film directed by Robert Bresson. Believed to be inspired by a passage from Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1868–69 novel ''The Idiot'', the film ...

'' (1966), ''

L'Avventura ''L'Avventura'' ( en, "The Adventure") is a 1960 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni. Developed from a story by Antonioni with co-writers Elio Bartolini and Tonino Guerra, the film is about the disappearance of a young woman ...

'' (1960), ''

L'Eclisse ''L'Eclisse'' ( en, "The Eclipse") is a 1962 Italian romance film written and directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Alain Delon and Monica Vitti. Filmed on location in Rome and Verona, the story follows a young woman (Vitti) who pursues ...

'' (1962), ''

Late Spring is a 1949 Japanese drama film directed by Yasujirō Ozu and written by Ozu and Kogo Noda, based on the short novel ''Father and Daughter'' (''Chichi to musume'') by the 20th-century novelist and critic Kazuo Hirotsu. The film was written and ...

'' (1949), ''

A Man Escaped ''A Man Escaped or The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth'' (french: Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut, which literally translates as: "A man condemned to death has escaped or The wind blows where it wants"; the subtitl ...

'' (1956), '' The Mirror'' (1975), ''

Scenes from a Marriage ''Scenes from a Marriage'' ( sv, Scener ur ett äktenskap) is a 1973 Swedish television miniseries written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Over the course of six hour-long episodes, it explores the disintegration of the marriage between Mariann ...

'' (1973), ''

Shame Shame is an unpleasant self-conscious emotion often associated with negative self-evaluation; motivation to quit; and feelings of pain, exposure, distrust, powerlessness, and worthlessness. Definition Shame is a discrete, basic emotion, d ...

'' (1968), and '' Tokyo Story'' (1953).

Filmography

Accolades

(2014 - " Winter Sleep") * Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award (2008 - ''

Three Monkeys ''Three Monkeys'' ( tr, Üç Maymun) is a 2008 Turkish film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film was Turkey's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards, and it made the January short- ...

'') * Grand Jury Prize / Grand Prix at

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films ...

(2002 – ''

Uzak ''Uzak'' (, ''Distant'' in North America) is a 2002 Turkish drama film written, produced, shot and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film won a total of 31 awards at various film festivals, including Best Actor at Cannes, Special Jury Prize at ...

'' ("Distant"), 2011 – ''

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia ''Once Upon a Time in Anatolia'' ( tr, Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da) is a 2011 internationally co-produced drama film, co-written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan based on the true experience of one of the film's writers, telling the story of a grou ...

'') *

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for Fédération Internationale de la PRESse CInématographique) is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world fo ...

Award (1997 – ''

Kasaba Kasaba or Kasabaköy is a village 17 kilometres outside Kastamonu, Turkey. It had a population of about 23,000 in 1905, when it had considerable local trade, but has since shrunk to only a few dozen households. Kasaba does not contain any ancie ...

'' ("Small Town" or "The Town"), 2000 – '' Clouds of May'', 2006 – '' Iklimler'' ("Climates")), 2014 – '' Winter Sleep'' * Golden Orange Award for Best Director (1999 – '' Clouds of May'', 2002 – ''

'' (''Distant''), 2006 – '' Iklimler'' ("Climates")) * Golden Orange Award for Best Screenplay (2002 – ''

'' ("Distant")) * Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Director (2008 – ''

Üç Maymun ''Three Monkeys'' ( tr, Üç Maymun) is a 2008 Turkish film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film was Turkey's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 81st Academy Awards, and it made the January short- ...

'' ("Three Monkeys"), 2011 – ''

'', 2014 – '' Winter Sleep''

References

External links

Official web site
* *Nuri Bilge Ceylan a
altcine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ceylan, Nuri Bilge 1959 births Best Director Golden Orange Award winners Best Screenplay Golden Orange Award winners European Film Awards winners (people) Boğaziçi University alumni Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director winners Directors of Palme d'Or winners Living people Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University alumni Film people from Istanbul Turkish film directors Turkish people of Circassian descent Photographers from Istanbul Turkish contemporary artists Turkish male screenwriters Asia Pacific Screen Award winners