Nehir Tuna

Director

Nehir Tuna (born in Tekirdağ, Turkey, in 1985) is a Turkish director, screenwriter, and producer. After studying business administration at Marmara University, he completed a master's degree in directing at the Rochester Institute of Technology (MFA, 2008) and continued his education in the Graduate Film Program at Columbia University. He was a fellow of the Berlin Nipkow Program (2018) and a participant in the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (2019). Between 2004 and 2018, Tuna made several short films, including The Shoes, Basur, Grandpa Knows Best, and Virgin Island, which were screened at international festivals. The Shoes also served as preliminary work for his later feature film debut. With Yurt (Dormitory, 2023), he presented his first feature-length film. The autobiographical coming-of-age film tells the story of a teenager who is torn between secular school life and religious boarding school in the 1990s. The film premiered in the “Horizons” section of the 80th Venice Film Festival, where it won the Bisato d'Oro for best screenplay and received further awards, including at the Zlín Film Festival. Stylistically, Yurt stands out for its austere black-and-white aesthetic, which only opens up into color at the end—a symbolic moment of liberation. Tuna's work is characterized by personal stories set against a backdrop of social and religious contrasts. With his minimalist, poetic imagery, he is considered a striking new voice in Turkish auteur cinema.

Films on Sooner

Dormitory

2023

118 mins

Drama

Twelve-year-old Ahmet is devastated when his father sends him to a Muslim boarding school. His only consolation is his new friend Hakan.