Zeki Demirkubuz (b. 1964, Isparta) graduated from the Faculty of Communication at Istanbul University. He directed his first feature film, C Blok, in 1994, marking the beginning of his filmmaking career. His subsequent films, Masumiyet (1997) and Üçüncü Sayfa (1999), both premiered at the Venice Film Festival, drawing the attention of critics and audiences alike and earning numerous national and international awards.
The first two films of his Dark Tales trilogy, Fate (Yazgı, 2001) and The Confession (İtiraf, 2001), were screened in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The trilogy concluded with The Waiting Room (Bekleme Odası, 2003), in which Demirkubuz also played the leading role. He continued his career with Destiny (Kader, 2006), Envy (Kıskanmak, 2009), Inside (Yeraltı, 2012), Nausea (Bulantı, 2015), and Ember (Kor, 2016). His most recent film, Life (Hayat, 2023), further extends his cinematic journey.
Retrospectives and screenings of his films have been presented at major institutions and festivals including the Viennale, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Toronto International Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, University of Michigan, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Cinematek Brussels, New Horizons Film Festival, and Cluj Film Festival.
Zeki Demirkubuz’s photographic practice opens a contemplative and existential space through a series of still frames captured across diverse geographies. These works avoid dramatic constructs or staged compositions, instead pursuing the quiet intensity of an unfiltered gaze. The photographs are not anchored in narrative but emerge from the raw directness of ordinary moments. They invite the viewer into encounters shaped not by words, but by the silent resonance of emotion and intuition.