Bio
Didem Avkan Gültekin was born in 1978 in the district of Birecik in Şanlıurfa, Turkey, to a teacher mother and a pharmacist father. She lost her father in 1983.
She completed her primary, secondary, and high school education in Nizip, Gaziantep, the hometown of her parents.
In 1997, she went to Ankara to study at Gazi University Faculty of Pharmacy. During her student years, she developed an interest in various art forms and actively participated in the university's literature and music club for four years. Outside of university, she continued her painting lessons at the studio of the painter Teymur Ağalioğlu.
She graduated from Gazi University Faculty of Pharmacy in 2003. She worked as a civil servant pharmacist at Birecik State Hospital for 8 months after graduation. From 2004 to 2007, she practiced as a pharmacist in Nizip.
She got married in 2007 and settled in Antalya. She had a son named Hüseyin in 2010 and a daughter named Mila in 2014.
In 2015, she attended a creative writing workshop by dramaturge Ruteba Doğan at Antalya , Kırmızı Kalem Art Academy for two years. During this period, she wrote two short stories, "The Sparrow Settling on Tarmac " and "Three Eggs", which were staged as reading theater performances.
Her interest in literature, photography, and visual arts gradually led her to filmmaking. In 2016, she met Hüseyin Özşahin, a master cinematographer of Turkish cinema, in Antalya. She conducted experimental studies on lighting and cinematography with him for educational purposes.
In 2016, she adapted her story "The Loss" into a screenplay and directed her first short film bearing the same title.
"The Loss” was screened at more than thirty national and international film festivals and won awards at four international film festivals, including one for "Best Short Film Screenplay".
She graduated from Anadolu University Department of Photography and Cinematography in 2018. In 2022, she enrolled in the Cinema Television Department of Akdeniz University Faculty of Fine Arts.
- In 2023, she completed the production process of her second short film named "The Dove". Also in 2023, inspired by Ursula Le Guin's "The Diary of the Rose", she wrote a screenplay for a short film titled "297 Years 23 Minutes" and obtained the necessary permissions from the publishing house for adaptation.
- In 2023, she participated in workshops organized by producer Zeynep Atakan to receive various training on film production.
- In 2024, she is continuing the preparations for her upcoming short film "297 Years 23 Minutes" and her first feature-length documentary project titled "Where Is My Home?".
- In 2023, she participated in workshops organized by producer Zeynep Atakan to receive various training on film production.
- In 2024, she is continuing the preparations for her upcoming short film "297 Years 23 Minutes" and her first feature-length documentary project titled "Where Is My Home?".
Movies
