Gülsel Özkan

Gülsel Özkan — Biography

Gülsel Özkan was born in 1966 in Malatya and has lived in Germany since 1980, working as a film director, screenwriter and producer of Turkish origin. She began her film studies at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts in 1987, completing them with distinction, and from 1989 worked as a freelance filmmaker, dramaturg and producer.

She has made documentaries and features for German broadcasters such as ARD, arte, NDR, WDR and BR as well as international channels including Spain's TVE and 3sat, with her work broadcast internationally and nominated for several awards. Since 2012 she has worked with Ludger Pfanz on new storytelling models that combine classical film dramaturgy with digital and interactive formats.

She has served as a jury member and jury president at numerous international festivals, including the Türk Film Festival in Mannheim/Heidelberg and the Ökofilmfestival in Freiburg. She is managing director of Future Design Company GmbH and, since 2011, artistic director of the Beyond Festival in Karlsruhe. Her documentary Sıla Hasreti, about migration and longing between two countries, was shown at the Ayvalık Film Festival and in İzmir in 2023.