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IMDbPro

Deniz Gamze Ergüven

  • Director
  • Actress
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Deniz Gamze Ergüven
In 2011 Ergüven was invited to attend the Cannes Film Festivals Atelier to help develop her project, The Kings. While there she met fellow director Alice Winocour who was there to develop her first feature film Augustine. After Ergüven was unable to find financing for her film Winocour suggested she write a more intimate piece leading the two to begin work on the script for Mustang.

Her debut film Mustang premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. It later played in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards It was later shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Ergüven was also nominated for multiple César Awards, winning the César Award for Best First Feature Film as well as the César Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Ergüven was the first person surprised by the film's overwhelmingly positive welcome. "During Cannes I was telling this joke: Tuesday we'll show the movie, Wednesday we'll talk to the press, Thursday we'll be old news. But that Thursday never came! We're still Wednesday and it's just getting more intense.", she says.
BornJune 4, 1978
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornJune 4, 1978
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
      • 37 wins & 37 nominations total

    Photos3

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    Known for

    Elit Iscan, Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, and Ilayda Akdogan in Mustang (2015)
    Mustang
    7.6
    • Director
    • 2015
    A Drop of Water (2006)
    A Drop of Water
    5.8
    Short
    • Director
    • 2006
    Halle Berry and Daniel Craig in Kings (2017)
    Kings
    5.1
    • Director
    • 2017
    Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
    The Handmaid's Tale
    8.3
    TV Series
    • Director

    Credits

    Edit
    IMDbPro

    Director



    • Jennifer Garner in The Last Thing He Told Me (2023)
      The Last Thing He Told Me
      6.5
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2023
    • Matthew Rhys in Perry Mason (2020)
      Perry Mason
      7.6
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2020
    • Elisabeth Moss in The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
      The Handmaid's Tale
      8.3
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2019
    • The First (2018)
      The First
      6.6
      TV Series
      • Director
      • 2018
    • Halle Berry and Daniel Craig in Kings (2017)
      Kings
      5.1
      • Director
      • 2017
    • Elit Iscan, Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, and Ilayda Akdogan in Mustang (2015)
      Mustang
      7.6
      • Director
      • 2015
    • A Drop of Water (2006)
      A Drop of Water
      5.8
      Short
      • Director
      • 2006
    • Mon trajet préféré
      3.9
      Short
      • Director
      • 2006

    Actress



    • The Capsule (2012)
      The Capsule
      5.8
      Short
      • Woman #6
      • 2012
    • Vincent Lindon and Soko in Augustine (2012)
      Augustine
      6.1
      • Denise
      • 2012
    • To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
      To Each His Own Cinema
      6.7
      • The young woman (segment "Recrudescence")
      • 2007
    • A Drop of Water (2006)
      A Drop of Water
      5.8
      Short
      • Lale
      • Niece
      • 2006

    Writer



    • Halle Berry and Daniel Craig in Kings (2017)
      Kings
      5.1
      • written by
      • 2017
    • Elit Iscan, Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, and Ilayda Akdogan in Mustang (2015)
      Mustang
      7.6
      • written by
      • 2015
    • A Drop of Water (2006)
      A Drop of Water
      5.8
      Short
      • Writer
      • 2006
    • Mon trajet préféré
      3.9
      Short
      • Writer
      • 2006

    • In-development projects at IMDbPro

    Personal details

    Edit
    • Official site
      • Sinematurk Profile
    • Alternative name
      • Deniz Ergüven
    • Born
      • June 4, 1978
      • Ankara, Turkey
    • Publicity listings
      • 1 Article

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Nobel Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk liked Mustang (2016) very much and made an interview with Deniz Gamze Ergüven, encouraging her to continue despite the harsh criticism she faced in Turkey.
    • Quotes
      The way he [Recep Tayyip Erdogan] speaks: he makes them [women] fragile with his messages, whether subliminal or explicit. There is a certain way, he says, of being a woman: you have to be a mother and at home, and that's all. When you see a man, you should blush and look down. It's like something from the middle ages. The subtext is that women are only seen as sexual. That's why they must cover every inch of their skin. This is dangerous because it generates more violence against them, it makes it OK for men to act like assailants. Rapes happen everywhere, but in Turkey women come out on to the streets to protest because such attacks only seem to echo what the government is saying. [May 2016]

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