Aslı Özarslan, Foto: Kulturakademie Tarabya/Dawin Meckel

Aslı Özarslan

Aslı Özarslan, born in 1986 in Berlin, is a director and studied theater and media at the University of Bayreuth, philosophy and sociology at the Université Sorbonne IV in Paris, and documentary film directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. In 2009 she shot her first short film, in 2011 the 30-minute documentary Bastarde (Bastards), and in 2012 she developed the 11-minute video installation Kanak Sprak Bist Du (You’re Kanak Sprak) for the Humboldt-Box in Berlin. Her first long documentary, INSEL 36 (Island 36), about the only woman in the refugee protest camp on Oranienplatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg, was made at the Film Academy in 2014. INSEL 36 and her final exam film Dil Leyla (2016) won national and international awards. In 2015 she received the Germany Scholarship and in 2016, the scholarship from the Berlin Academy of Arts in the Film and Media Art section. Özarslan is currently working on her debut feature film, Ellbogen (Elbow), based on the novel by Fatma Aydemir. She is also a participant in the INTO THE WILD mentoring program for young filmmakers.

Aslı Özarslan was a resident at Tarabya Cultural Academy from March to June 2017 and again in April 2022.