Mehmet Tanrısever

Mehmet Tanrısever — Biography

Mehmet Tanrısever was born in 1953 in the village of Bağyurdu in Bozkır, Konya Province, and moved to Istanbul with his family while still young. He entered working life after primary school and became an industrialist in 1976, founding a steel cookware manufacturer in Istanbul's Vefa district; his interest in cinema grew alongside that business career.

He began as a producer in 1989 with his own company, Feza Film, and turned to directing after Abdullah from Minye, directed by Yücel Çakmaklı and one of the landmark titles of Turkey's Islamic cinema movement, broke box-office records. His 1992 directorial debut, which he also wrote, won awards at international festivals. He then stepped back from filmmaking for a period to focus on his industrial business, before eventually liquidating it to devote himself fully to cinema. He returned in 2011 with Free Man, about the life of Said Nursi, working as writer, director and producer, and went on to further titles including Free Slave and Bozkır Kuşlara Bak Kuşlara after 2019. In 2005 he also published a memoir recounting his life story.