Instructors

Dorukhan Acar - Insignia Productions

He completed a double major in Economics and Business Administration at Clark University. He began his career in management consulting at Oliver Wyman in New York in 2001 and later worked at the Istanbul, Amsterdam and Milan offices of The Boston Consulting Group and the Bahrain and Dubai offices of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. While serving as Co-Head of the Financial Services Sector for the Middle East at a global management consulting firm, Acar founded Insignia Yapım AŞ in 2012 and has produced six films, including "Dağ II", the most-watched film in Türkiye in 2016. Within the scope of the Production Academy, he teaches courses on Introduction to Film and TV Production and Comparative World Film Industry.

Erkan Büker - Bahçeşehir University

He graduated from the Department of Cinema and Television at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Anadolu University, Eskişehir. He has been working as a director and producer since 1986. He has directed dozens of TV productions, including game shows, comedy series, entertainment programs and talk shows. He is the director of the 2013 feature film "Zor Yılların Kayıp Çocukları". Currently a faculty member in the Department of Cinema and Television at the Faculty of Communication, Bahçeşehir University, Büker teaches Camera and Lighting, Basics of Film & Video Making, Making B Movie and Visual Storytelling at the same institution.

Şebnem Aksoy Açıkalın - Star TV

She completed her undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Communication, Marmara University, and her master's degree at the Faculty of Law, Bilgi University, focusing on International Human Rights Law and Media Relations. She began her professional career in 1996 as a reporter at Radikal newspaper and later worked as an editor at Superonline-Nethaber, one of Türkiye's first online newspapers. For a period, she served as the Istanbul representative of the Germany-based Deutsche Welle radio and held managerial roles at various magazines. She began her screenwriting career in 2006 by joining the writing team of the TV series Kurtlar Vadisi and worked on numerous successful productions until 2014. She worked as Drama Director at Show TV in 2014, and since 2015 she has been working as Director of In-House Productions at Star TV.

Ferhat Aslan - Mars Entertainment

After completing his undergraduate degree in Labor Economics and Industrial Relations at Marmara University, he continued his studies at the University of Cambridge, graduating in 1997. He began his professional career at Delphi Packard and General Motors and continued at United International Pictures, where, drawing on the experience he gained in finance and accounting, he successfully served first as Finance and Operations Manager and then as General Manager, before continuing his career at Mars Cinema Group. Ferhat Aslan, who still serves as General Manager at Mars Entertainment, teaches courses on Production, Distribution and Marketing within the scope of the Production Academy.

Rodin Alper Bingöl - Elmalma Brand Communication

He is an entrepreneur and executive in the fields of advertising, design, social media, digital campaigns and social responsibility. Since 1996, he has served as creative director and manager of many digital projects. He graduated from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Istanbul Bilgi University in 2009 and carried out the social responsibility project "Remove Barriers Movement" as his graduation thesis. Since 2009, under Elmalma Brand Communication, where he serves as creative director and agency president, he has developed many projects contributing to the development of the digital world and the effective use of social media in Türkiye and around the world. He has produced digital solutions for many artists such as Cem Yılmaz, Murat Boz, Ozan Güven and Ömer Faruk Sorak, as well as for many brands such as Böcek Yapım, CMYLMZ Fikirsanat, Ay Yapım, LTB and Show TV.

Nalan Büker - Işık University

She graduated from the Department of Communication Sciences at Anadolu University in 1985 and received her proficiency in art degree from Marmara University. In 1993, she produced Son Söz Sevginin, the first studio drama in Türkiye, and in 1999 she directed the TV series Aile Bağları. For many years, as General Coordinator at ANS Production, she worked on numerous TV productions, most notably Çarkıfelek, Saklambaç, Riziko, Yarınlar Umut Olsun and Şansa Dansa. Büker has been serving as Head of the Department of Cinema and Television at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Işık University, since 2012, and since 2013 she has been conducting National Occupational Standards studies on behalf of the Vocational Qualifications Authority.

Güven Çatak - Bahçeşehir University

While studying architecture at Istanbul Technical University, he began writing game reviews and making short films. He contributed to the game magazines PC Gamer, Level and Oyungezer as a freelance writer and editor. At Bahçeşehir University, as an Assistant Professor, he manages the BUG academic programs and industry structures, teaches courses on moving image and game design, and supervises related master's theses. He serves as the academic representative on the board of VR First BAU, the world's first laboratory of the VR First virtual reality platform initiated by Crytek.

Alptuğ Çopuroğlu - BluTV

He serves as CFO and Director of Business Development at BluTV. Previously, he worked as a strategy and management consultant at A.T. Kearney and Capgemini Consulting in Germany. He has focused on digital business models and digitalization strategies, working mainly in consumer-facing industries.

After graduating from Istanbul Erkek Lisesi, he studied industrial engineering at RWTH Aachen University in Germany.

Cem Doruk - Aheste Film

After completing his university education abroad in 2002, he worked as a business development manager in various sectors. After gaining experience in the industry, he worked for a period as a news editor at news channels. In 2012, he produced his first short film, Road to London, together with Efe Öztezdoğan. Following his documentary productions Road to London and Diyar (2014), he served as co-producer or producer of the feature films Abluka (2015) and Buğday (2017), respectively. At the Production Academy, he teaches participants courses on Art and Practice in Film Production.

Hakan Dursun - Türk Telekom

Hakan Dursun graduated with high honors from the Department of Industrial Engineering at Boğaziçi University in 2002 and later completed his MBA at the same university, also with high honors. He has led many important projects in different sectors, particularly telecommunications, energy and banking. He began his career in 2002 in strategic management consulting at the Istanbul office of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and went on to work at Booz Allen Hamilton, Delta Partners and British Telecom. Hakan Dursun joined Türk Telekom in 2011 as Advisor to the CEO of Türk Telekom Group, and in 2014 he took on the role of Executive Vice President responsible for Strategy and Business Development at Türk Telekom. As of March 2016, he has been serving as Executive Vice President responsible for Marketing.

Sarp Kalfaoğlu - BluTV

Sarp Kalfaoğlu is the Content Manager of BluTV. While pursuing a thesis-based master's degree in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Istanbul University, he entered the industry as a screenwriter at Limon Yapım and then worked as a post-production supervisor in the drama department of TV8. During high school, Kalfaoğlu had the opportunity to live in countries such as Argentina and Finland through exchange programs such as Rotary and AFS (American Field Service), and at university he studied literature and cinema in France through the ERASMUS student exchange program. Responsible for BluTV's content since February 2016, Kalfaoğlu focuses primarily on BluTV's original production projects.

Özlem Kalkan - Türk Telekom

She graduated fourth in her class from the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences at Sabancı University in 2003. She completed her master's degrees in Telecommunications Engineering and Management at the same university. In 2016, she received Strategic Leadership training in Paris. Since 2015, she has been serving as Head of Strategic Partnerships and Marketing at Türk Telekom.

Arkın Kol - Dolby

Arkın Kol is the Director of Commercial Partnerships for Europe at Dolby. He is a graduate of Business Administration at Salzburg University of Applied Sciences and of Mechanical Engineering at Salzburg University of Technology. He has served as a Board Member of ENS AB, one of the largest service providers for e-commerce solutions in Scandinavia, and as an Advisory Board Member for investment firms investing in technology companies. With more than 20 years of international experience at world-renowned companies such as Dolby and SONY, Arkın has led the management of Media and Entertainment industry operations at industry-leading firms.

Melis Nersesoğlu Konca - Match Point

She graduated from the Department of Economics (English) at Marmara University in 2000. She began her professional career at Ernst & Young and later worked in the marketing department of Nestlé. She then turned to the media industry, working in the national and international sales units of organizations such as Warner Bros Turkey and Cine Film, and after 2012 she served as Director of the international distribution, sales and licensing & merchandising departments at Global Agency. In 2014, she founded Match Point, a company that sells Turkish content abroad and provides consultancy to foreign companies. At the Production Academy, she teaches participants courses on the Film and TV Industry and International Content Sales.

Deniz Şaşmaz Oflaz - BluTV

After her education at Istanbul Pierre Loti French High School, she studied performing arts and cinema at the University of Paris Nanterre. While continuing her studies, from 2005 onward she attended international film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Toronto and gained experience in film distribution and production. After three years, she worked as Sales and Project Manager at Medyavizyon, another independent film company. Deniz Şaşmaz Oflaz, who joined Moviebox as General Manager in 2011, handled the end-to-end distribution of films, from the theatrical distribution of Twentieth Century Fox films and independent films licensed by the company to television sales, advertising and PR activities. She also supported the development of feature film projects and the search for international co-producers for the sister production company Focus Film. Since December 2016, she has been responsible for content acquisitions at BluTV.

Kemal Öner - Documentary Filmmakers Association

He completed his master's degree in the Department of Cinema and Television at the Institute of Social Sciences, Anadolu University. In addition to educational programs within the university, he produced various news programs for TRT. He was the cinematographer of the television films Kaldırım Serçesi and Keşanlı Ali Destanı. In 1992, he founded Akademi Prodüksiyon with three friends. He continues to produce television series and feature films at Akademi Prodüksiyon, where he is currently a partner. He has also been a member of the Documentary Filmmakers Association since its foundation. He served as a documentary jury member at the 47th and 49th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festivals.

Kaya Özkaracalar - Bahçeşehir University

He received his PhD from the Graphic Design Art Programs at Bilkent University. He served as General Editorial Coordinator of Geceyarısı Sineması, Türkiye's first magazine focusing on fantastic cinema. In 2015, he was elected to the board of the Turkish Film Critics Association (SİYAD) and has served as its Secretary General since then. Özkaracalar, a faculty member in the Department of Cinema and Television at Bahçeşehir University, is the author of two books, Gotik (2005) and Geceyarısı Filmleri (2007), and the co-director of numerous documentary works.

Derya Saraçbaşı - Attorney

Saraçbaşı graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1998 and continued her studies in Business Law at George Brown College. After working at the Gültekin and Okur & Okur law firms, she continued her professional career first at Istanbul Doors Restaurant Group and later at Doğuş Holding Restaurant Group. At this institution, she served as legal counsel for 73 brands and 138 restaurants under Doğuş Holding and had the opportunity to become closely acquainted with the dynamics of the food, beverage and entertainment sectors. Within the scope of the Production Academy, she teaches courses on Entertainment Law.

İbrahim Şahin - All İletişim

He graduated from the Department of Radio and Television Programming at Istanbul Aydın University. He worked primarily as a reporter, as well as news editor, editorial manager and magazine editor, at Türkiye newspaper, the magazine desk of Akşam newspaper, the magazine desk of Haberturk.com, the Cadde supplement of Milliyet newspaper, Star TV's Süper Star Life, the Kelebek supplement of Hürriyet newspaper and Güneş newspaper. After leaving journalism, he founded All İletişim Agency in 2014. He currently determines and manages the media relations strategies of many brands, artists and actors, most notably the TV series and feature films of TAFF Pictures, TIMS&B, ANS Production, NuLook and Insignia Productions.

Volkan Taban - Gamester

He was born in Muğla in 1982. After attending middle school at Milas Anatolian High School, he completed his high school education at Bursa Science High School and graduated in 2006 from the Department of Business Administration at Koç University, which he entered with a scholarship. He continued his studies in the Marketing Communications master's program at Bilgi University and graduated in 2010. He began his career at Koç Sistem, working in service sales for one year, and in 2007 joined Project House as Brand Manager. During this time, he provided interactive marketing communication services to brands from different sectors such as Toyota, Coca-Cola, Peugeot, Efes Pilsen, Kariyer.net, Intel, Schweppes and Powerade. In 2009, he stepped into entrepreneurship as co-founder of Gamester, one of Türkiye's first social gaming companies. At Gamester, which was named Best Game Company of the Year by Webrazzi in 2011, he won many awards in Türkiye and abroad for both the games produced and the collaborations with brands.

Serkan Taş - Freelance Producer

He began his production career in 1993 with the TV series Şişeler, directed by Çetin İnanç and broadcast on the private television channel TGRT. After completing the comedy series İnce İnce Yasemince in 1996, he left the TV series sector and moved into commercials. He has worked as production assistant, production supervisor and line producer on more than 200 commercials, including major projects such as the Vodafone Türkiye launch, Finansbank's "Getir Götür İsmail" and Nivea. He started in feature films as a production assistant with the film İyi Seneler Londra. Bu İşte Bir Yalnızlık Var, the Russian production "Capsule", the Belgian production "Undercover", the Çakallarla Dans series, Deliormanlı, Dört Köşe, Arapsaçı and Hadi Bakalım are the films on which he has recently worked as production coordinator and line producer.

Ozan Temiz - Yol Digital

Ozan Temiz, co-founder of Yol Digital and AdMongrel, graduated from the Department of Business Administration at Boğaziçi University and began his career as Hosting Services Sales Manager at Koç Sistem. He then continued as a sales manager at Türk Telekom and Turkcell. During this period, he began his master's degree in the Department of Cinema and Television at Bahçeşehir University. With this background, he focused on the relationship between technology and end users and on digital media. Temiz, who develops projects at Yol Digital and AdMongrel on media technologies, interactive TV infrastructure and operations, and media-telco convergence, teaches an Introduction to Digital TV course at Bahçeşehir University.

Deniz Yavuz - Antrakt

Film researcher, writer and publisher. In 1997, he began publishing the Antrakt Cinema newspaper and the monthly Antrakt cinema magazine. In 1999, he photographed and archived the cinema theaters operating in all provinces of the country. In 2000, he organized the first meeting of academics in the field of cinema held in Türkiye. From 1996 to 2015, he held various positions on the board of the Turkish Film Critics Association. He wrote a research book titled 22 Years of Turkish Cinema. One year later, he prepared the book Turkish Cinema in the 2000s. He brought the international data analysis and research organization comSCORE (Rentrak – IBOE) to the Turkish cinema industry and has been its Türkiye representative since 2012. He is a member of EFARN, which works under the European Audiovisual Observatory, and of MEDIA SALLES, another data research organization. He continues to serve as General Director of Antrakt. He is also the founder of Karaköy Lokantası and the nightclub DIRTY.

Çağlar Yurtseven - Bahçeşehir University

He received his bachelor's degree in Economics from METU with a school honor award and completed his master's and doctoral studies, also in Economics, at Boston College. Having gained experience at many important institutions and organizations such as METU, Boston College, the Undersecretariat of Treasury of the Republic of Türkiye and the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Türkiye, Yurtseven later worked as a specialist economist at TOBB University of Economics and Technology. He has been a faculty member at Bahçeşehir University since 2012. Within the scope of the Production Academy, he teaches participants courses on "International Trade and Media Economics".

Özlem Özsümbül - Kanal D

She graduated from the Department of General Journalism at Marmara University in 1998. She began her professional career in 1997 in the foreign content acquisition department of Kanal D and went on to serve as officer, executive and manager, respectively. After domestic film acquisitions were added to her foreign content acquisition duties, she also took on the role of Director of International Series Sales in addition to these duties. Having also handled planning and research duties for a period, Özlem Özsümbül was most recently responsible for content acquisition and film investment at Kanal D, D Productions and Teve2.