Gülsel Özkan was born in Malatya, Turkey, in 1966. She emigrated to Germany in 1980 and began to study filmmaking at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg in 1987, graduating with honors. She has accumulated many years of professional experience as a director and scriptwriter and has worked as an independent filmmaker and producer since 1989, creating documentary films and feature films for ARD, arte, NDR, WDR, BR, DW Phönix, H3, MDR and SFB, as well as international broadcasters such as Spain TVE, 3 Sat and Planet-France.
Gülsel Özkan is currently working as a director and scriptwriter of documentary films and feature films. Many of her films have been shown internationally and nominated for numerous prizes. Gülsel Özkan is the business manager of Planetfilm GmbH.
| 1989 |
|
DIE NEUE MAUER (The New Wall), documentary, U-Matic |
|
Script / Directing |
| 1990 |
|
VERFLUCHTES C (The Cursed C), feature, 16 mm, 7 min. |
|
Script / Directing / Editing |
| |
|
QUÉ TODOS SE LEVANTEN (When They All Rise Up), documentary, Guatemala, 60 min., Beta SP |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production |
| |
|
STUMME WELTEN (Silent Worlds), documentary, FRG, 16 mm |
|
Camera / Lighting |
| |
|
EL ORO NEGRO (Black Gold), documentary, Ecuador, 45 min., video |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production |
| 1992 |
|
ZIVILCOURAGE - Rigoberta Menchú (Everyday Courage - Rigoberta Menchú), film for Deutsche Welle (Nobel Peace Prize 1992) EIN PORTRÄT - Rigoberta Menchú (A Portrait - Rigoberta Menchú), |
|
live broadcast on the Nobel Peace Prize 1992, ARD |
| 1993 |
|
DANCES WITH TAILINGS, documentary, USA, 16 mm, 60 min.
Diploma film project with honors |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production |
| 1994 |
|
Six months of shooting in Ecuador, Guatemala, USA |
|
|
| |
|
DAS UNBEKANNTE GESICHT DES ISLAMS (The Unknown Face of Islam), NDR |
|
Script |
| 1995 |
|
ZWISCHEN DEN FRONTEN - die türkischen Alewiten (Between the Fronts – The Turkish Alevites), 45 min., Beta SP, NDR/ 3 Sat |
|
Directing / Editing / Production |
| 1996 |
|
ASYL, ASYL (Asylum, Asylum), subsidized script for a feature film |
|
Filmförderung Hamburg HHFF |
| |
|
DIE AMERIKAS (The Americas) - Identity and Resistance of the Indigenous Americans, documentary, 93 min., Beta SP |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production
Filmförderung Hamburg HHFF |
| |
|
( Prizes: *"Großer Preis der Jury", Sixth International Environmental and Nature Film Festival in Sacile, Italy, 1996
*Award at the Native American film festival II Festival de Cine y Video de las Naciones Abya Yala in Ecuador 1996
*Special mention at the XVIII Festival de La Habana Cuba, 1996, as the second-place film about Latin America made by a non-Latin American filmmaker) |
|
|
| |
|
(The Voice of Heaven - Missionaries and the Oil Business in Ecuador), 45 min., Beta SP |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production
Filmförderung Hamburg HHFF |
| |
|
The Hidden Face - On the Situation of the Refugee Villages in Guatemala), 45 min., Beta SP |
|
Directing / Sound / Editing / Production
Filmförderung Hamburg HHFF |
| |
|
ES IST GESCHEHEN, ES IST VORBEI - Maschallah (It Has Happened, It's Over - Mashallah), NDR |
|
Script |
| 1997 |
|
UNSERE MÜTTER, UNSERE SCHWESTERN, UNSERE TÖCHTER - Ein Filmprojekt über kurdische Frauen (Our Mothers, Our Sisters, Our Daughters - A Film Project on Kurdish Women), WDR / arte |
|
Script |
| |
|
TAI CHI CHUAN - Vollendete Kampfkunst in China (Tai Chi Chuan - Perfect Martial Art in China), documentary, China, 45 min., Sender Freies Berlin
Broadcast on: SFB / MDR / WDR / HR / ORB and Planet-France |
|
Production |
| |
|
DIE BESCHNEIDUNG - Ein Fest in den türkischen Bergen (The Circumcision - A Celebration in the Mountains of Turkey), documentary, 45 min., Beta SP, NDR / Phoenix |
|
Directing / Editing / Production |
| 1998 |
|
DIE TOCHTER DER BERGE (Daughter of the Mountains), (old title: Asyl Asyl), script for a feature film about an 11-year-old girl, |
|
Filmförderung Hamburg FFHH
Script |
| |
|
HEIMAT BABYLON (Homeland Babylon), subsidized script for a feature film, Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg
Co-author |
|
Co-author |
| 1999 |
|
DORNEN IN MEINEM AUGE - Eren Keskin: Eine türkische Anwältin klagt an (Thorns in My Eye - Eren Keskin: A Turkish Woman Lawyer Speaks Out), documentary, 60 |
|
Directing / Editing / Production |
| |
|
(Prizes: *"Odyssee-Spezialpreis der Jury für Dokumentarfilm" (Odyssey Special Jury Prize for a Documentary Film), Interfilmfestival Nuremberg
Nominated in three categories for the Prix Europe Berlin |
|
|
| |
|
Festivals: *Festival médias nord-sud, Geneva
*International Human Rights Festival, Nuremberg
*Exil Filmfestival, Götheborg, Sweden, 1999) |
|
|
| |
|
NICHT LÄNGER SCHWEIGEN - Drei Kurdische Frauen auf neuen Wegen (Breaking the Silence – Three Kurdish Women Taking New Paths), documentary, 45 min., Beta SP, WDR |
|
Directing / Editing / Production |
| |
|
WALDESLUST - Die Deutschen und der Wald (FOREST DELIGHT - Germans and the Forest), 45 min., NDR/ HR / 3 SAT / MDR / SWR |
|
Production |
| 2000 |
|
Foundation of PLANET FILM- UND FERNSEHPRODUKTIONS GmbH |
|
|
| |
|
Member of the jury at ÖKOMEDIA - 17th International Environmental Film Festival in Freiburg, Germany |
|
|
| |
|
DER SCHWARZARBEITER (The Underground Worker), short comedy film |
|
Script |
| |
|
HEIMAT BABYLON (Hometown Babylon), nominated for the Baden-Württemberg Script Prize 2001 |
|
Script |
| |
|
Nominated as Best Script for the German Script Prize 2003 in the category "Script Not Filmed) |
|
|
| 2001 |
|
ELEANORA & THE ALIEN, children's film,
Filmförderung Hamburg FFHH |
|
Script |
| |
|
FREMDE HEIMAT (Foreign Homeland), documentary, Discovery Master School
Filmförderung Hamburg |
|
Subsidized script |
| |
|
DER LETZTE KRONZEUGE (The Last Principal Witness), docufiction, Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg |
|
Subsidized script |
| 2002 |
|
DER SCHWARZARBEITER (The Underground Worker), satirical short film on the theme of joblessness, 35 mm, 19 min. |
|
Directing |
| |
|
Prizes: *First Prize for Best Short Film
International Film Festival Osnabrück |
|
|
| 2003 |
|
First Place, Short Film Prize, 29th International Film Weekend, Würzburg |
|
|
| |
|
Festivals: Filmfest Emden, Short Film Festival Thalmässing, First Look Schleswig Holstein, Film Festival Biberach, Baden-Württembergische Filmschau, Interfilm Nuremberg, Kontrast Bayreuth, Filmfest Würzburg, Film Festival Landshut) |
|
|
| |
|
Nominated for Best Short Film, German Short Film Prize |
|
|
| |
|
Incentive funding by MFG Baden-Württemberg for the development of the projects "Hometown Babylon", "Jobsharing" and "Wonderful Death" |
|
|
| |
|
Subsidized script for the international feature film "Brent Spar" by MFG Baden-Württemberg. Subsidy from Media Plus for project development on "Jobsharing". |
|
|
| 2004 |
|
Support for project development on "Hometown Babylon" by Media Plus. Support for NATURPARK SCHWARZWALD (Schwarzwald Nature Park). |
|
|
| 2005 |
|
DIE DREHUNG DER BRENT SPAR (The turn of "Brent Spar"), documentary, 45 min. (WDR) |
|
TV subsidy |
| |
|
"Best journalistic film", Ökofilmtour 2006 |
|
|
| |
|
FASZINATION WILDNIS (The Fascination of the Wilderness), 30 min. |
|
|
| 2006 |
|
EINE ALLIANZ FÜR DIE ZUKUNFT (An Alliance for the Future), 20 min. |
|
|
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
A series of documentary nature films for children
|
|
supported MFG-Filmförderung
Baden-Württemberg
project development /
format development
|
| 2007 |
|
"Mofettas -
The Earth’s Deadly Breath“
Science |
|
|
| |
|
“The Dead of Chios“
Documentary film, 45 min.,
WDR story editing
|
|
Editing |
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
A series of documentary nature films
for children from children
|
|
Project development / format
development / EU dimension |
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
Parts 1 - 3
"Safari in the Black Forest"
"Robbers in the Forest "
"Master of the Skies"
|
|
Directing / editing / production |
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
Part 4
"Capercaillies in the Black Forest"
|
|
Directing / editing / production |
| 2008 |
|
"Drowned Before My Very Eyes"
Documentary film, 45 min.,
WDR story editing
|
|
Directing / sound
editing / production |
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
Part 5
“Adventure in the Rhine Meadows"
|
|
Directing / editing / production |
| |
|
“Adventure Around the Corner“
Part 6
"Adventure in Costa Rica" |
|
Directing / editing / production |
| |
|
"A Suitcase Full of Hope"
Documentary film
|
|
Script |
| |
|
|
|
|
