A B O U T H E R | medihadidemturemen

A b o u t H e r

Mediha Didem Türemen is a filmmaker, producer, production designer, visual artist and photographer based in Istanbul, Turkey.

She studied International Relations at Istanbul University, then completed two Master's degrees at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University; in Film and in Basic Art & Design.

Alongside her studies, she trained in film and theatre at several institutions. Her career in film began with the Best Short Film Script award at the Istanbul International Short Film Festival, leading to work across film production and short film festival programming in Turkey. In 2008, she was invited as producer to the AFIC (Audiovisual Financing & Commercialisation) seminar, held by MEDIA at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Her debut fiction feature was Two Lines (2008), which premiered in competition at the Critics' Week of the 65th Venice International Film Festival. She served as production designer and handled international relations for the film, representing it worldwide — screening at over 40 festivals across 23 countries. The same international responsibilities continued across her next features; on Winds (2010), where she also worked as art director and leading actress, and on Secret (2014) as art director.

In 2011, she performed in Calixto Bieito's Envidia at the 41st International Theatre Festival of La Biennale di Venezia, having been selected the previous year for the Theatre section of La Biennale for The Limits of Theatre, also directed by Bieito. She was selected for Berlinale Talents in 2011 as an actress in Sarajevo, and in 2018 as a production designer in the 68th Berlinale, where she participated in the Production Design Studio of the World Building Institute. She also participated in Kyoto Filmmakers Lab in 2019 as a director.

Working across every stage of independent arthouse filmmaking — both in front of and behind the camera — she built a practice rooted in creative autonomy.

Alongside her film work, she developed a practice in engraving and photography. Her first solo exhibition in Istanbul (2013) coincided with the Lorenzo il Magnifico award at the 9th Florence Biennial. Her woodcut engraving Homage to Albrecht Dürer entered the permanent collection of the Albertina Museum in Vienna, where she became the youngest and first Turkish woman artist to be included in the collection from Turkey. Her works are also held in collections in Portugal, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkey.

Her second solo exhibition, Myths (2018), conceived as a homage to Ingmar Bergman, was held in a Byzantine cistern in Istanbul. The exhibition was included in the Bergman100 centenary programme and the 37th Istanbul Film Festival. Following the exhibition, she attended Bergman Week on the island of Fårö in Sweden as an artist.

She also writes stories inspired by her photographic works, several of which have been published in Turkish literary magazines including Varlık, Kafkaokur and Pozitif.

In 2020, as producer, she began working with auteur director Nuri Bilge Ceylan on About Dry Grasses (2023). The film premiered in the Main Competition of the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Actress award. It was Turkey's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards and was distributed in 33 countries.

Throughout production, she also shot the entire process of About Dry Grasses, resulting in While the Grasses Are Drying - a three-part, seven-hour making-of documentary.

Her debut documentary feature as director-producer, Timeless, has been in development since 2019 and is set for completion in 2026. On the project, she also serves as cinematographer, sound recordist and editor. The project centres on the human impulse to leave a trace through art and archive. As part of its research, she made the first deposit from Turkey to the Arctic World Archive in Svalbard, Norway in 2023, preserving the process of her artwork.

The project continued in Peru in 2024 with filming at Machu Picchu. During the same period, her engravings were exhibited at the Peru Biennial, where she also gave a conference talk and received the Peru Biennial Award. To deepen the documentary's research, she pursued studies in Cultural Heritage at Istanbul University.

Alongside Timeless, she is developing a documentary and photography project from her journey to the Himalayas and the Everest in 2024.

Her works on filmmaking, photography, engraving and different fields of art continue independently.

E d u c a t ı o n

• 2023 - | Istanbul University | Associate Degree | Cultural Heritage

• 2004 | Istanbul University | Bachelor's Degree | International Relations

• 2000 | İzmir Kız Lisesi

• 1997 | Kuşadası Naci Akdoğan College

F ı l m o g r a p h y

• 2026 | Documentary Feature | Zamansız ( Timeless ) | Director - Producer | (post-production)

• 2025 | Making-of Documentary | Otlar Sararırken ( While Grasses Are Drying ) | backstage of Kuru Otlar Üstüne ( About Dry Grasses )

• 2023 | Fiction Feature | Kuru Otlar Üstüne ( About Dry Grasses ) | Executive Producer | director - Nuri Bilge Ceylan

• 2014 | Fiction Feature | Saklı ( Secret ) | Art Director - International Relations | director - Selim Evci

• 2010 | Fiction Feature | Rüzgarlar ( Winds ) | Actress - Art Director - International Relations | director - Selim Evci

• 2008 | Fiction Feature | Iki Çizgi ( Two Lines ) | Production Designer - International Relations | director - Selim Evci

M u s e u m C o l l e c t ı o n s

• Austria | Albertina Museum | Drawings and Prints Permanent Collection

• Norway | Arctic World Archive ( AWA ) | First entry representing Turkey

• Portugal | Douro Museum | Biennial Printmaking Collection

• Macedonia | Osten Drawing Museum

• Bulgaria | Gabrovo Museum House of Humour and Satire

• Poland | International Print Biennial Łódź Collection

• Turkey | IMOGA - Istanbul Museum of Graphics Art

• Turkey | The Women's Library and Information Foundation

• Turkey | Museum of Troy

A w a r d s & N o m ı n a t ı o n s

• 2024 | Award | Peru | Peru Biennale

• 2013 | Award | Italy | 9th Florence Biennale | Lorenzo il Magnifico - Works on Paper Category

• 2016 | Award | Hungary | Honorable Mention | PH21 Budapest - Lines and Curves Exhibition

• 2005 | Award | Turkey | Best Short Film Script | Istanbul International Short Film Festival

• 2013 | Nomination | Turkey | Best Actress | 24th Ankara International Film Festival

• 2012 | Nomination | Turkey | Most Promising Actress | 19th Adana International Film Festival

B ı e n n ı a l s , T r ı e n n ı a l s & A r t F a ı r s

• 2024 | Peru | Peru Biennial | December 6 - 12

• 2018 | Turkey | 13th Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair | September 20 - 23

• 2016 | Turkey | 11th Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair | November 3 - 6

• 2016 | Portugal | 8th International Printmaking Biennial of Douro | August 10 - October 31

• 2015 | Bulgaria | 22nd International Biennial of Humor and Satire - Gabrovo | May 16 - September 30

• 2015 | Turkey | International Izmir Biennial | May 4 - 11

• 2014 | Argentina | International Biennial of Contemporary Art of Argentina - Buenos Aires | October 3 - 10

• 2014 | Italy | Esposizione Triennale di Arti Visive a Roma | June 6 - 14, 2014

• 2013 | Italy | 9th Florence Biennial | November 30 - December 8

E x h ı b ı t ı o n s - S o l o & G r o u p

• 2019 | Turkey | Group | Artweeks Akaretler | September 3 - 22

• 2019 | Hungary | Group | PH21 Galley Photography Exhibition | April 11 - May 4

• 2016 | Austria | Group | Salzburg Summer Academy of Fine Arts

• 2016 | Hungary | Group | PH21 Galley Photography Exhibition | March 17 - April 12

• 2008 | Turkey | Group | IFSAK - Istanbul Photography and Cinema Amateurs Association

I n d u s t r y E x p e r ı n c e - F ı l m & A c t ı n g

As Instructor

• 2024 | Peru | Peru Biennial | "Inspirations for the Artistic and Film Industry" Conference by Mediha Didem Türemen | December 7

• 2024 | Nepal | Oscar International College for Film Industry | "Masterclass with Mediha Didem Türemen" | June 7

• 2024 | Nepal | Nepal Film Campus | "Workshop with Mediha Didem Türemen" | June 6

As Participant

• 2026 | Netherlands | 55th International Film Festival Rotterdam | "Art Directions" | January 29 - February 8

• 2019 | Japan | Kyoto Filmmakers Lab 2019 | October 30 - November 3

• 2019 | Turkey | WMC - Women with Movie Cameras - Script Lab 2019 | May 27 - June 2

• 2018 | Germany | 68th Berlin Film Festival | Berlinale Talents - Production Design Studio | February 16 - 23

• 2016 | Japan | Tokyo University of the Arts | Global Homecoming 2016 | December 18 - 21

• 2011 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 17th Sarajevo Film Festival | Sarajevo Talents Campus | July 22 - 30

• 2010 | Turkey | Copywriter | McCann Erickson Istanbul

• 2008 | France | MEDIA - Audiovisual Financing & Commercialisation Seminar | Panthéon-Sorbonne University | Producer

Acting Training

• 2005 | Turkey | Turkish State Theatre Opera and Ballet Members’ Foundation | Acting

• 2004 | Turkey | Gönül Ülkü & Gazanfer Özcan Theatre | Acting Workshop

• 2003 - 2005 | Turkey | Foundation of Culture and Art Nazım Hikmet | Acting

• 2002 - 2003 | Turkey | Academy Istanbul | Acting

• 2000 - 2003 | Turkey | Istanbul University Faculty of Political Sciences | Theatre