Kutlug Ataman

Photograph by Muammer Yanmaz

Kutlug Ataman was born in Istanbul, and graduated from Le Centre de l’Université de Californie à Sorbonne, Paris, in 1987. He studied drama and film at the University of California in Los Angeles, graduating with an MFA degree in 1988. Since then, he has pursued an international career as a filmmaker and visual artist. His short film Hansel ve Gretel (Hansel and Gretel) won the Peter Stark Production Award, and La Fuga received the CINE Golden Eagle Award at Washington D.C. Film Festival, first prize at the New York International Film Expo in 1988, and the Gold Eagle at the Chicago International Film Festival in 1989. His 1998 film Lola ve Bilidikid (Lola and Bilidikid), which looks at the transvestite subculture inside the Turkish guest-worker community in Berlin, received the Teddy Bear Award at the International Berlin Film Festival. Iki Genç Kiz (Two Girls), which won numerous awards both in Turkey and abroad, is Ataman’s third and latest feature film.

Filmography

1985 Hansel and Gretel (short)
1988 La Fuga (short)
1994 Karanlik Sular / The Serpent’s Tale
1998 Lola ve Bilidikid / Lola and Bilidikid
1999 Peruk Takan Kadinlar (belgesel) / Women with Wigs (documentary)
1999 Semiha Berksoy Belgeseli (belgesel) / Semiha B. Unplugged (documentary)
2000 Ruhumu Asla (belgesel) / Never My Soul (documentary)
2002 Veronica Read’in 4 Mevsimi (belgesel) / The 4 Seasons of Veronica Read (documentary)
2005 Iki Genç Kiz / Two Girls