Umit Gulsen, Director of Photography

Umit’s film journey began in 2001, when he started film school in Istanbul. His studies focused mainly on theory: he analysed classic films and directors across film history and wrote articles about the challenges and potential of cinema as an art.

While studying, he also worked as an assistant director on TV series, short films and documentaries. One of those shorts, Blue, was supervised by Majid Majidi, the first Iranian director to be nominated for an Oscar.

In 2015 Umit began working as a freelance cinematographer, and in 2016 he earned his MA in Film and Video from American University.

He has shot hundreds of projects locally and internationally. In 2016 he spent a week each in Guatemala and Tanzania as DP for director Christopher Cymbalak, filming Project Concern International’s USDA-funded Food for Education programmes. Day to day, he works on a wide range of productions, meeting people from every kind of profession.

“I never dreamed, when I was just starting out in Istanbul, that I would actually be shooting film after film in so many exciting places around the globe.”

On every project Umit connects with the environment and its rhythm, and draws on his experience to shape a visual language that fits the soul of the film. In his words: “I am after beauty that presents itself in a myriad of forms in our world — beauty that has a value beyond the film screen.”