Zeki Demirkubuz was born in Isparta, Turkey, in 1964. After finishing secondary school at Gönen Teachers’ School in Isparta, he moved to Istanbul. He started high school in Istanbul, but dropped out after his first semester, going to work in factories and workshops instead. During those working class years, he engaged in leftist politics. Following the 1980 military coup he served a three-year sentence for his membership in a political organization. In prison, Demirkubuz developed a passionate interest in literature. He read the classics and started writing. Dostoyevsky and especially Crime and Punishment became a lasting inspiration in those years.
After his release, he worked as a hawker, traveling from one city to another in Anatolia. In order to postpone compulsory military service, Demirkubuz decided to go back to school. He finished high school through distance learning, and entered the Department of Communications at Istanbul University. He began his film career as assistant director to Zeki Ökten in 1986, and worked as assistant director for various directors until making Block-C (C Blok, 1994), his first feature film. After this first film, Demirkubuz continued to work as an auteur and independent filmmaker writing his own original screenplays. Film critics and international audiences noticed Demirkubuz with his second film, Innocence (Masumiyet, 1997) which was screened at Venice Film Festival and The Third Page (Üçüncü Sayfa, 1999) which was screened at several festivals in Turkey and Europe, including Locarno and Rotterdam. Following The Third Page, Demirkubuz started to work on his trilogy called “Tales of Darkness.” The first two parts of the trilogy Fate (Yazgı, 2001) and Confession (İtiraf, 2001) were screened at Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2002. The Waiting Room (Bekleme Odası, 2003) in which Demirkubuz also played the leading role, concluded the trilogy. Destiny (Kader, 2006), the prequel to Innocence, has been followed by his latest feature, Envy (Kıskanmak, 2009).
C Blok / Block-C (1994)
Masumiyet / Innocence (1997)
Üçüncü Sayfa / The Third Page (1999)
Yazgi / Fate (2001)
İtiraf / Confession (2001)
Bekleme Odasi / The Waiting Room (2003)
Kader / Destiny (2006)
Kıskanmak / Envy (2009)
Retrospectives of His Films
2009 Brussels Cinemateque (Belgium)
2007 Pacific Film Archive at Berkeley Art Museum (U.S.A.)
2007 Film Society of Lincoln Center (U.S.A.)
2004 Duke University with the presentation of Prof. Fredric Jameson (U.S.A.)
2004 Houston Museum of Fine Arts (U.S.A.)
2004 University of Michigan (U.S.A.)
2004 Harkins Valley Art Theatre (U.S.A.)
2003 Anthology Film Archives (U.S.A.)
2003 Toronto Film Festival (Canada)
2003 Boston Museum of Art (U.S.A.)
2003 Wexner Center for the Arts (U.S.A.)
2002 Viennale (Austria)
2001 Festival of European Films (Turkey)
Press
Articles
Fredric Jameson. A Note on the Specifity of Turkish Cinema. 2004.
Chris Berry. By the Light of the Dark. kader: Zeki Demirkubuz. 2006.
Richard Peña. Introduction. Mental Minefields: The Dark Tales of Zeki Demirkubuz. 2007.
David Ng. Scars and Bars: Turkish Anomie and Anonymity. Village Voice. March 26-April 1, 2003.
Peter Keough. Zeki Demirkubuz. The Providence Phoenix. April 16-22, 2004.
Fiachra Gibbons. Jail Made Me a Film Director. The Guardian. January 30, 2006.
Rasha Salti. About Zeki Demirkubuz. Mental Minefields: The Dark Tales of Zeki Demirkubuz. 2007.
Interviews
Nadir Operli - Firat Yucel. Interview with Zeki Demirkubuz. Altyazi. October 2006.
Aydın Bal. Interview with Zeki Demirkubuz. www.bapq.net. October-November 2004.
