Life and career

Ustaoğlu was born in Çaykara in eastern Turkey and grew up in Trabzon

Trabzon

Trabzon is a city on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. Trabzon, located on the historical Silk Road, became a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast...

 on the Black Sea. After studying architecture at the Yıldız Technical University

Yildiz Technical University

Yildiz Technical University is a technical university dedicated to engineering sciences and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Istanbul, Turkey. The central campus lies within the Beşiktaş district.-History:Yildiz Technical University has a distinguished history which began...

 in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

, she worked as an architect, then as a journalist and a film critic. Before she made her feature film debut The Trace (Iz) in 1994, she had made several award-winning short films. Ustaoğlu received international recognition for her next film, Journey to the Sun (Güneşe Yolculuk), which told a story of a frendship between a Turk and a Kurd. Her fourth film Pandora’s Box

Pandora's Box (2008 film)

Pandora's Box is an award-winning 2008 Turkish drama film directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu.- Plot :Two sisters and a brother living in the centre of Istanbul are confronted with the care for their dementing mother who they brought back with them from the mountains near the...

(Pandora'nın Kutusu) won The Best Film and The Best Actress award in San Sebastian Film Festival and is Ustaoğlu's biggest international succes to date.

Filmography

Year	English Title	Original Title	Notes
1984	To Catch a Moment	Bir Anı Yakalamak	short film
1989	Magnafantagna	Magnafantagna	short film
1990	Duet	Düet	short film
1992	Hotel	Otel	short film
1994	The Trace	Iz	feature film debut
1999	Journey to the Sun	Güneşe Yolculuk
2003	Waiting for the Clouds Waiting for the clouds Waiting for the Clouds is a film from 2003, Turkey. The film was directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu.It is based on a novel by Georgios Andreadis titled Tamama. The film was produced by Setarh Farsi, Helge Albers and Behrooz Hashemian...	Bulutları Beklerken
2004	Life on Their Shoulders	Sırtlarındaki Hayat	documentary short film
2008	Pandora's Box Pandora's Box (2008 film) Pandora's Box is an award-winning 2008 Turkish drama film directed by Yeşim Ustaoğlu.- Plot :Two sisters and a brother living in the centre of Istanbul are confronted with the care for their dementing mother who they brought back with them from the mountains near the...	Pandora'nın Kutusu

External links

• Official website
• Yeşim Ustaoğlu at the Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database
  Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...