Kutluğ Ataman


Kutluğ Ataman is a Turkish contemporary artist and filmmaker, who produces both photography and video art. He won the Carnegie Prize for his works "Kuba" in 2004. In the same year he was nominated for Turner Prize for his work "twelve".

Biography

Ataman was born in Istanbul in 1961; his father was a diplomat. As a young man, he was involved in filming the events of the 1980 Turkish coup d'état, which led to his imprisonment and torture. After his release, in 1981 he left Turkey and moved to California, remaining there for 15 years. He graduated in 1985 with a BA in Film from the University of California and completed his MFA in 1988. As of 2004 he lives in Istanbul, London and Barcelona.
Openly gay himself, Ataman's work often explores sexual identity and gender. In 1997 he filmed Turkish opera diva Semiha Berksoy, and his piece Women Who Wear Wigs featured four Turkish women – a revolutionary whose face remained obscured, well-known journalist and breast cancer survivor Nevval Sevindi, an anonymous devout Muslim student, and a transsexual.
Ataman was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2004 for his contribution to the Istanbul. In the same year Ataman won the Carnegie Prize for his video installation Kuba, and for various exhibitions in 2003–2004. He received the "Best Director" award for the film İki Genç Kız at the 2005 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival The Lamb movie won many awards. The movie got the best director and the best movie awards.

Filmography

Director: