Çağan Irmak
Çağan Irmak (born 4 April 1970) is a Turkish film and television writer and director, who has managed to attract a large audience in Turkey and is best known for the TV series Çemberimde Gül Oya (2004–2005) and Asmalı Konak (2002–2004), and for the hit films Alone (2008) and My Father and My Son (2005), for which he received Turkish Cinema Writers Association Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director.[1][2][3]
Çağan Irmak | |
|---|---|
| Born | 4 April 1970 |
| Occupation | Filmmaker |
| Years active | 1992–present |
He studied Radio, TV and Film Studies at Ege University Faculty of Communications, receiving the Sedat Simavi Award for two short films, Masal (The Tale) and Kurban (The Sacrifice), which he made in the course of his studies. After graduating in 1992, he worked in cinema and television as an assistant director to Orhan Oğuz, Mahinur Ergun, Filiz Kaynak and Yusuf Kurçenli, and was awarded first prize by IFSAK for his short film Play Me Old and Wise (1998).
He wrote and directed the TV series Good Morning Brother Istanbul (1998–2001) on atv, and the TV film Strawberry Cake (2000) before achieving some early success with his first feature film, Wish Me Luck (2001), which Rekin Teksoy describes as "unremarkable",[2] and collaborations with Mahinur Ergun on the hit TV series Şaşıfelek Çıkmazı (2001) for TRT, and Asmalı Konak (2002–2004) for atv, for which he received numerous awards.
A period of great success followed with popular TV series Çemberimde Gül Oya (2004–2005) on Kanal D, and hit films Everything About Mustafa (2004) and My Father and My Son (2005), which according to Rekin Teksoy "successfully exploited the melodramatic idiom and was a huge box-office success,"[2] which, "showed that popular cinema was successful in appealing to wide audiences"[1] as well as receiving six Turkish Cinema Writers Association Awards including Best Director.
Following this he wrote and directed several installment in the TV horror film series Kabuslar Evi for FOX, and the film The Messenger before achieving another popular success with the film Alone (2008). Since then he has made the short film Düşlerimdeki Atatürk (2008), the TV series Yol Arkadaşım (2008–2009) for Star and the film In Darkness (2009). He has been productive in the last years and has produced 4 additional films: Sleeping Princess (2010), My Grandfather's People (2011), Are We OK? (2012) and Whisper If I Forget (2014).
Filmography
| Films & TV series | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||||
| Director | Producer | Writer | |||||
| 1998 | Play Me Old and Wise (Turkish: Bana Old and Wise'i Cal) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film. | ||
| 1998–2001 | Good Morning Brother Istanbul (Turkish: Günaydın Istanbul Kardes) | Yes | Yes | TV series for ATV. | |||
| 2000 | Strawberry Cake (Turkish: Cilekli Pasta) | Yes | Yes | TV film. | |||
| 2001 | Wish Me Luck (Turkish: Bana Şans Dile) | Yes | Yes | Feature film debut. | |||
| 2001 | Şaşıfelek Çıkmazı | Yes | TV series for TRT. | ||||
| 2002–2004 | The Mansion with Vines (Turkish: Asmalı Konak) | Yes | TV series for ATV. | ||||
| 2004 | Everything About Mustafa (Turkish: Mustafa Hakkında Herşey) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2004–2005 | Çemberimde Gül Oya | Yes | Yes | TV series for Kanal D. | |||
| 2005 | My Father and My Son (Turkish: Babam ve Oğlum) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2006 | House of Nightmares (Turkish: Kabuslar Evi) | Yes | Yes | TV film series for FOX. | |||
| 2007 | The Messenger (Turkish: Ulak) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2008 | Alone (Turkish: Issız Adam) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2008 | Atatürk in My Dreams (Turkish: Düşlerimdeki Atatürk) | Yes | Yes | Short film. | |||
| 2008–2009 | My Companion (Turkish: Yol Arkadaşım) | Yes | TV series for Star TV. | ||||
| 2009 | In Darkness (Turkish: Karanlıktakiler) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2010 | Sleeping Princess (Turkish: Prensesin Uykusu) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2011 | My Grandfather's People (Turkish: Dedemin İnsanları) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2013 | Are We OK? (Turkish: Tamam mıyız?) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2014 | Whisper If I Forget (Turkish: Unutursam Fısılda) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2015 | A Unique Life (Turkish: Nadide Hayat) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2016 | My Name is Feridun (Turkish: Benim Adım Feridun) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2018 | Gülizar | Yes | TV series for Kanal D. | ||||
| 2018 | Children's Safety to You (Turkish: Çocuklar Sana Emanet) | Yes | Yes | ||||
| 2018 | Remember Us (Turkish: Bizi Hatırla) | Yes | Yes | ||||
