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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

Me Time

Me Time

By Ayla Yildiz

2022 | 86 min | Documentary

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

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Im inneren Kreis

2017 | 83 min | Documentary

For years, Iris P., alias "Iris Schneider", investigated the left-wing scene and the "Rote Flora" in Hamburg until her exposure in the media in 2014. A few months later, two other undercover detectives in Hamburg were uncovered: Maria B. (cover name "Maria Block") and Astrid O. (alias Astrid Schütt). What are the consequences of surveillance for the individual and for society as a whole? How free are people who are under surveillance?

The Discarded Father

The Discarded Father

2008 | 82 min | Documentary

Douglas Wolfsperger explores a social phenomenon that rarely appears in public discourse: men, who after a separation from their wives, are "disposed of" not only as partners but also as fathers and who - often in vain - struggle to maintain a relationship with their children. In moving interviews, four fathers describe their suffering and efforts to keep contact with their children. A mother justifies the refusal of contact from her point of view. Despite the seriousness of the topic, the film ...

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Homeopathy Unrefuted?

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Living Together

Living Together

2022 | 90 min | Documentary

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This Land Is My Land

This Land Is My Land

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Master Game

Master Game

1998 | 106 min | Documentary

In the 1990s, the art world is shaken by a series of mysterious attacks. At first, paintings in renowned galleries were targeted, and later, bombs were set off by the pro-German movement in Austria. In 1994, the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts finally became a crime scene: unknown perpetrators painted over several works by the famous Austrian painter Arnulf Rainer with black paint – a targeted attack on the “Über-Maler” himself? In MASTER GAME, Lutz Dammbeck links these events with the controversial ...

The Pig Slaughtering

The Pig Slaughtering

2010 | 52 min | Documentary

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The Net

The Net

2003 | 121 min | Documentary

Between 1978 and 1995, a series of bombings convulse the United States. The targets of the letter and pipe bombs are managers of major airlines, scientists from various elite universities and technology companies. The trail of attacks finally leads to Ted Kaczynski, a brilliant but reclusive former math professor who, under the pseudonym Unabomber, formulates a radical critique of technological development. Why does a scientist become a terrorist? The search for an answer leads into the past: from ...