Eylem Kaftan

Eylem Kaftan

Eylem Kaftan is a journalist and filmmaker based in İstanbul, Turkey. Kaftan completed a B.A. in Philosophy at Boğaziçi University . She completed an M.A in film and video at York University.  Her first documentary, Faultlines, investigates the aftermath of the 1999 earthquake. Kaftan then wrote and directed Vendetta Song (2005). This film about her personal journey into the honour-killing of her aunt in Turkey has received several awards including CIDA Prize for Best Canadian Documentary at Hot Docs; the Quebec Film Critics Association Award; Best Documentary.  Her third documentary Bledi, This is Our Home tells the story of the non-status Algerians in Canada. 

In 2010, Kaftan made a documentary series for Aljazeera documentary channel, called the Dreamcatchers. 

Between 2011-2013 she worked for Al Jazeera Turkish and produced several short documentaries and three 44-minute films, which were shown at   Al Jazeera English channel. The Passion and Penalty is a film about the matchfixing scandal in Turkish football. Sarajevo, My Love is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmuqWmALnjoa) a film about a Serbian general who defended Sarajevo during the siege of the city. Seeing isn't Everything which is about four blind people living in İstanbul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9KsI5SSmnk 

In 2014 Kaftan produced short docs Al Jazeera Plus channel. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O69_tFa5K9E     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV2yC-SjD5s

She made The emptiness in me, which is  about three non-Turkish sufis. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dEJC79WHGM

She also worked as a presenter for a TV series for TRT Documentary on ‘urban farmers’, called Biçiftlik https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDEWpOSfvDo

Her latest film is about the massacre in Rabia hospital  in Egypt called Massacre in Rabia made for Al Jazeera English https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BEp3hZl69I

Kaftan also works for the national newspaper Vatan as a freelance writer.