Ayla Yildiz

Director

Ayla Yildiz, born in Wuppertal in 1991, is a German documentary filmmaker, multimedia editor, and entrepreneur. She founded the media company ay film and has been working for many years as a freelance “one-woman show” with a focus on socially critical short films and documentaries. Her cinema debut is the documentary Me Time (2022, director: Ayla Yildiz). In this self-produced film, she reflects on child-free life, social expectations of mothers, and the topics of abortion, unwanted pregnancy, and regretting motherhood. The film toured cinemas in Germany and Austria and earned her the Best Director – Documentary Film award at the Berlin Indie Film Festival and the Best Cinematography award at the New York International Women's Festival in 2023. Other well-known films by her include Kalp unutmaz – The Heart Never Forgets (2012, directed by Ayla Yildiz), which won the German Youth Video Award and the Audience Award, and Die weiße Dame (The White Lady, 2013, directed by Ayla Yildiz), which won the National Citizen Media Award. Her short film Allein die Luft ist umsonst (Only the Air is Free, 2011, director: Ayla Yildiz) won the International Citizen Media Award in 2011. She also appeared as a guest on an episode of the talk show Nachtcafé in 2024, where she spoke out on the topic of sterilization. Ayla Yildiz works across disciplines for cinema, television, and online platforms, taking on directing, camera, and editing duties herself. For over ten years, she has been dedicated to documentary and filmmaking projects with social relevance.

Films on Sooner

Me Time

2022

86 mins

Documentary, Independent

Self-determination, women's rights, taboos: ME TIME focuses on child-free life and expectations of mothers.