Zeki Demirkubuz

Zeki Demirkubuz — Biography

Zeki Demirkubuz is one of the best-known names in Turkey's independent auteur cinema. He writes his own films, produces most of them through his own company, and has for years been a familiar figure on the festival circuit. Recently he was in the news for Hayat (2023), and he has also shown his photography in an exhibition.

Born in Isparta, Demirkubuz left high school to work in factories and workshops, and spent three years in prison after the 1980 coup. In those years he turned to literature, Dostoevsky above all. He later finished high school as an external student, entered Istanbul University's Faculty of Communications, and began in cinema in 1986 as an assistant to Zeki Ökten. His first phase runs through C Blok (1994), Masumiyet (1997) and Üçüncü Sayfa: Masumiyet was shown in Venice, while Üçüncü Sayfa travelled to festivals such as Locarno and Rotterdam. The second phase is the trilogy he called Karanlık Üzerine Öyküler, made up of Yazgı and İtiraf (both 2001) and Bekleme Odası (2003); the first two entered the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2002, and he took the lead role himself in Bekleme Odası, which closed the trilogy. Kader (2006), Kıskanmak (2009), Yeraltı (2012), Bulantı (2015), Kor (2016) and Hayat followed.

Kader won best film at the 2006 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival. Themes of love, passion, self-sacrifice and the absurdity of life recur in his work, and Dostoevsky's influence is often noted.