Birsen Kaya (1943 -   ) 

 

Birsen Kaya, who came to life in Istanbul in 1943, did not continue her education after secondary school. He started working as a reporter for Artist magazine in 1961. On the set of Gurbet Kuşları, which was released in 1964, director Halit Refiğ offered him an assistantship. He became an assistant director and took part in nearly 200 films during his assistant career.  Among the directors he has assisted are Bilge Olgaç, Nazmi Özer, Mehmet Aslan and Türker İnanoğlu. Nazmi Özer left the directorship completely to Birsen Kaya for a movie he was going to shoot. Even though Birsen Kaya directed the movie, sources stated that the director was Nazmi Özer. However, the name and date of this movie are unknown. Birsen Kaya founded the production company "Ufuk Film" in 1970. He directed 13 films between 1970 and 1975. He wrote the scripts of 11 of these films and produced four of them.

“They Call My Name Vengeance” (1970), “May God Have Mercy on You, Çeko” (1970), “Lawless Living” (1971), “Killing Spreads Death” (1971), “Bitirim Kemal” (1972), “Dadaş Rıfat” (1974) ), he directed films such as “Dadaş Rıfat is Coming” (1975). Kaya, who also directed the movie "Peftalisi Ala Benziyor" in 1975, became the first and only female director of her time to shoot a sex movie.  Kaya made adventure films because he gave importance to true stories in cinema throughout his life.  In 2001, she is one of the directors featured in the documentary titled "Voice of the Other", which is about the first female directors of Turkish cinema. 

 

Screenwriter Filmography

They Call the Man Revenge, 1970, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Dinçer Önal, Cast: Engin Çağlar, Hülya Aşan, Meltem Mete, Özdemir Baturalp, Metin Turan, Hakkı Kıvanç, Ahmet Karaca, Enver Dönmez, Mustafa Özkaya Producer: Aktüel Film

Bloody Destiny, 1970, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Fevzi Eryılmaz, Actors: Hülya Darcan, Engin Çağlar, Özdemir Baturalp, Metin Turan, Hakkı Kıvanç, Zeki Tüney, Faik Coşkun, Tuncay Talun, Arda Atakul, Mine Soley, Producer: Birsen Kaya.

May God Have Pity on You Çeko, 1970, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Suat Kapkı, Actors: Yılmaz Köksal, Nihat Ziyalan, Ülkü Özen, Hasan Ceylan, Hakkı Kıvanç, Yıldız Ateş, İhsan Gedik, Abidin Görsev, Suphi Özkaya, Producer: Alaettin Perveoğlu.

Destroying Desires “Let There Be Love”, 1971, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Şener Işık, Music: Baysan Yüksel, Actors: Tarık Tibet, Ceyda Karahan, Serap Olguner, Metin Turan, Hayri Caner, Sadeettin Düzgün, Nezihe Güler, Yunus Yakışıklı, Sabahat Işık, Ali Demir, Hamza Ahimiz, Dr. Nazmi Koşar, Hamdi Temizyürek, Orhan Erzurumlu, Yeşim Yükselen, Producer: Işıklar Film.

Lawless Living, 1971, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Yılmaz Ceylan, Actors: Yıldırım Gencer, Hülya Darcan, Baki Tamer, Kazım Kartal, Ergun Kazançel, Tarık Şimşek, Adnan Mersinli, Süheyl Eğriboz, Hakkı Kıvanç, Yaşar Şener, Meltem Mete, Producer: Birsen Kaya.

Dirty Hands, 1971, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Nedim Akanlar, Actors: Yıldırım Gencer, Nazan Şoray, Baki Tamer, Erden Alkan, Ali Şen, Engin Tara, Adnan Mersinli, Tarık Şimşek, Cengiz Han, Toni Sedat, Berrin Baran, Ayten Ayça, Gülgün Erdem, Producer: Feridun Kete.

Bitirim Kemal, 1972, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Yılmaz Ceylan, Actors: Yıldırım Gencer, Piraye Uzun, Hayati Hamzaoğlu, Tijen Doray, Kazım Kartal, Mine Sun, Oktay Yavuz, Ökkeş Enver, Niyazi Vanlı, Vural Öztürk, Lütfi Engin, Kudret Şandra, Pelin Ceylan, Producer: Mehmet Karahafız, Hasan Çakır

Targeted Five Men, 1972, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Nihat Çifteoğlu, Cast: İzzet Günay, Piraye Uzun, Erol Taş, Yeşim Yükselen, Süha Doğan, Hüseyin Çakmak, Nur Soylu, Enver Dönmez, Hakkı Kıvanç , Erdoğan Seren, Süheyl Eğriboz, Selahattin Güçlü, Producer: Selahattin Koca.

Nefret, 1973, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Selahattin Geçdurmaz, Cast: Erol Büyükburç, Piraye Uzun, Atilla Ergün, Nevin Nuray, Mehmet Tozkaldıran, Nesrin Nur, Yaşar Güçlü, Sabahat Işık, Dündar Aydınlı, Kazım Kartal, Producer: Sürat Production.

Dadaş Fırat, 1974, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Mükremin Şumlu, Actors: Aytekin Akkaya, Gönül Hancı, Hayati Hamzaoğlu, Turgut Özatay, Atilla Ergün, Sevtap Coşkun, Songül Karaca, Doğan Tamer, Mürüvvet Sim, Producer: Alaettin Perveoğlu.

Peach Looks Like Alas, 1975, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Mükremin Şumlu, Cast: Salih Kırmızı, Melek Görgün, Şenol Öztürk, Kenan Pars, Gönül Tansel, Yonca Yücel, Baki Tamer, Çetin Başaran, Faik Coşkun , İbrahim Alben, Producer: Mehmet Karahafız.

 

Producer Filmography

Bloody Destiny, 1970, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Fevzi Eryılmaz, Actors: Hülya Darcan, Engin Çağlar, Özdemir Baturalp, Metin Turan, Hakkı Kıvanç, Zeki Tüney, Faik Coşkun, Tuncay Talun, Arda Atakul and Mine Soley Producer: Birsen Kaya. 

Lawless Living, 1971, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of Photography: Yılmaz Ceylan, Actors: Yıldırım Gencer, Hülya Darcan, Baki Tamer, Kazım Kartal, Ergun Kazançel, Tarık Şimşek, Adnan Mersinli, Süheyl Eğriboz, Hakkı Kıvanç, Yaşar Şener, Meltem Mete, Producer: Birsen Kaya.

Dirty Hands, 1971, Director: Birsen Kaya, Screenplay: Birsen Kaya, Director of photography: Nedim Akanlar, Actors: Yıldırım Gencer, Nazan Şoray, Baki Tamer, Erden Alkan, Ali Şen, Engin Tara, Adnan Mersinli, Tarık Şimşek, Cengiz Han, Toni Sedat, Berrin Baran, Ayten Ayça and Gülgün Erdem, Production Company: Ufuk Film, Producer: Feridun Kete.

 

Awards: 

39th Istanbul Film Festival (2020) “Cinema Honor Award” (Birsen Kaya)

 

Source

Evren, M. Burçak. (2014). 100 Years of Turkish Cinema. T.R. Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Özgüç, Agâh. (2012). Encyclopedic Dictionary of Turkish Movies. Istanbul: Horizon International.

Özgüç, Agâh. (1994). Turkish Film Directors Dictionary. Istanbul: Afa Publications.

Öztürk, S. Ruken. (2004). The “Feminine” Face of Cinema: Female Directors in Turkey. Istanbul: Om Publishing House.