Biography

Reis Çelik was born in Ardahan, in east Anatolia, in 1961. He moved to Istanbul after junior high school and studied music and theatre at the State Conservatoire. In 1982 he began a career in journalism, working as an economics/political correspondent for various national newspapers. In the following years, both his interviews and photographs appeared in several international newspapers and magazines. Around the same time, he began making documentary films, commercial and political campaign films, as well as maintaining an active interest in still photography. To date Çelik's photographic work has been featured in exhibitions in over 12 countries. In 1996 he directed his debut feature, ‘Işıklar Sönmesin’ (“Let There Be Light”), a humanitarian take on the Kurdish conflict in southeast Turkey, which won several awards on the international festival circuit. He followed this with another feature ‘Hoşçakal Yarın’ (‘Goodbye Tomorrow’) in 1998, which focuses on a key figure of the Turkish students’ movement who was executed in the early 1970s. He made his third film ‘İnat Hikayeleri’ (‘Tales of Intransigence’), all improvised feature, in 2004. Fallowing‘Mülteci’ (“Refugee”) in 2008, ‘Lal Gece’ (“Night Of Silence”) 2012 is Reis Celik’s 5th feature film. ‘Food For A Funeral’ (2019)