Short to Feature: Umut Aral
This year's guest of the "Short to Feature" section, a section where we feature a director whose cinema journey started with short films and continued with feature films, is director Umut Aral, who has made successful productions in Turkey, on platforms such as Netflix, and internationally. His award-winning short films and the first feature film Good Game will meet with the audience as part of the section. The director shares his experiences and journey in the industry with the festival audience in a conversation.
Umut Aral was born in Istanbul, and is currently based in London. Globally experienced and multi-lingual, Aral managed multi national teams, established partnerships and worked across Europe and Asia. Throughout his career, Aral has demonstrated an affinity for breaking new ground across multiple screens. His wide body of work includes varied films, documentaries, TV commercials, music videos, TV series, viral videos, flash mobs, interactive videos, 360 and hologram videos.
In the most recent years, between 2018 - 2022; Aral worked as the most acclaimed director of 4 Netflix Originals series shown in 190 countries, including: “The Protector,” “Love 101,” “Yakamoz S-245” and “Who Were We Running From?” In 2018, directed the first e-Sports feature film ‘Good Game: The Beginning’. The movie won 12 international awards and screened in prestigious international film festivals: Sarajevo Film Festival, Worldfest Houston International Film Festival and Beirut International Youth Film Festival. In 2017, Directed an episode of 7Yüz for BluTV; first Anthology and digital TV series in Turkey. In 2005 and 1999, directed, produced and wrote two short films ‘CRASH’ and ‘Thirtyfour’. Internationally acclaimed "Crash", won 13 prestigious national and international awards and screened in esteemed film festivals like Locarno International Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Asiana Short Film Festival, and International Short Film Festival in Drama. ‘Thirtyfour’ won 5 awards in national film festivals and screened in numerous international film festivals receiving his first global recognition. Since 2001, Umut Aral has been leading a prolific career directing over 300 national and international TV commercials. Aral, has been distinguished with his cinematic flair on branded content and working in solid partnership with high-profile celebrities. Aral established himself as one of the top talented leading directors in the commercial world, winning numerous awards and being screened throughout the world with his work.
Through out his career, he has also been a speaker and educator, invited as a guest speaker to global organizations like YPO and universities to run workshops on filmmaking. Umut Aral is also The Chairman of Board of Members of Mithat Alam Education Foundation and Mithat Alam Film Center - the ‘cinematheque’ , a prestigious cultural center in Istanbul.
* All workshops and talks organized as part of the 19th Akbank Short Film Festival are free of charge. Participation is limited to side events of the festival.
* You can get your event participation card from Akbank Sanat's information desk one hour before the event.
Other Dates
Akbank Sanat
11 May 2023|18:30
Akbank Sanat
11 May 2023|18:30