Necati Sömnez, from Turkey, *1967, alumnus, MRI scholarship holder from December 2020 until September 2021 was based in Berlin with host organisation bi’bak, currently working in Turkey as well as in Germany
Film critic, documentary filmmaker and festival programmer.
He is one of the founders of Documentarist Istanbul Documentary Days which was launched in 2008 and soon became the most important documentary event in Turkey. He has worked as a film critic and journalist before starting to make documentary films.
His debut film Theo’s Gaze (2003) looked at the work of Greek director Theo Angelopoulos, while the following film To Make an Example of (2007) explored the stories of those who got the death penalty and executed since the founding of Turkey.
Besides directing other short documentaries, he has co-produced several awarded films such as Housekeeper (2006), Sisters of Lilith (2008), The Trace of the Butterfly (2014) and You Come From Far Away (2018). He has served as jury member in many film festivals and curated documentary programs for various institutions as a guest curator, most recently for Sinema Transtopia, Gorki Theatre and several collective events.
He contributes to a number of magazines and a daily newspaper by writing on cinema, culture, censorship, politics, etc.
