Zeynep Özbatur

Ms  Zeynep Özbatur was one of the guests of 11th International  Izmir Short Film Festival as jury member. She is a producer of acclaimed Turkish art house features Climates, Three Monkeys (both directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and has won the 4th annual European co-production award, the Prix Eurimages. Nowadays she is working on a project with director Kutluğ Ataman.

On Friday 5th of November -just couple of hours later after we arrived to Izmir- she gave a workshop about Being Producer for the movies. I attended to her workshop which was very helpful and informative not only for film professionals but also for the cinema students and the audiences who have interest about film production.

She also explained about the definiton and mission of  a producer,  what kind of producer she is, the differences about using the executive producer term in Europe and Hollywood,  and most importantly the collaboration between a script writer, director and producer. She  gave us brilliant examples about the subjects such as project development, budgeting, project target etc.

Ms Özbatur says: “Firstly my criteria is beleiving the director of the project rather than a project itself. If I really beleive his/her talent, creativity and vision, I accept that project and being part of it as a producer. With the right strategy and plan, every single movie even the one seems less commercial has its chance for bringing money back. Awards are charming but they only gives you psychological / spiritual satisfaction. The most important thing is doing your job rightly and the best way. ”

Tagged: 11th International Izmir Short Film Festival, workshop, Zeynep Özbatur