Tolga Karaçelik

Tolga Karaçelik is an award-winning Turkish writer-director known for blending intimate character studies with bold, thought-provoking themes. He broke out with his feature debut Toll Booth (2010), a drama about an isolated toll booth worker that won three awards at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and marked him as a new voice in Turkish cinema. His follow-up, Ivy (2014), a gripping drama set aboard a stranded freighter, premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and earned international acclaim.

Born in Istanbul, Karaçelik studied law at Marmara University before turning to filmmaking at the New York Film Academy. He first gained attention with acclaimed shorts, including Rapunzel (2009), which was selected for the Berlin and Cannes Film Festivals, and he also contributed to the global anthology 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero (2011). Today, he is recognized as one of Turkey’s most distinctive contemporary filmmakers, with work that explores isolation, authority, and the human condition.