Ahmet Uluçay

Born

1954-12-01

Died

2009-11-30

Birthplace

Kütahya, Turkey

Biography

He was born in 1954 in Tepecik village of Tavsanli district of Kütahya. During his childhood, even before he knew about the invention of the cinematograph, he thought that photography could move. He got to know the cinema thanks to the traveling film screening team that came to the village. When he was 12 years old, he decided to build a movie camera with his friend Ismail Mutlu. After three years, he combined the film fragments he collected and organized small screenings for the village people. Ulucay, who formed the "Tepecik Köyü Arkadas Sinema Grubu" with his friend Mutlu, who was engaged in poultry farming in the village, and his friend Serif Akarsu, a miner, completed his first film "Optik Dusler" (1992) with his friends using a VHS camera they bought from an expatriate living in Germany. In addition to his film work, he worked as a truck driver and construction worker to make ends meet. Ulucay, who also worked as a porter in a feed factory to make a living while shooting his first feature film "Karpuz Kabugundan Gemiler Yapmak", inspired by his childhood, received nearly 40 awards in Turkey and abroad with this film. He helped Nuri Bilge Ceylan in the shooting of the movie 'Mayis Sikintisi'. Ahmet Ulucay's film "Karpuz Kabugundan Gemiler Yapmak" won the grand prize of the 26th Montpellier Mediterranean Films Festival. "Karpuz Kabugundan Gemiler Yapmak", which was selected as the "Best Film" at the Istanbul Film Festival, received the "Golden Conch", the second best award, at the San Sebastian Film Festival. He could not continue shooting the movie "Bozkirda Deniz Kabugu", which he started shooting in 2007, due to health problems. Ulucay, a father of two children, wrote novels as well as his poems published in some magazines. He received many awards at national and international festivals with his films. While he was being treated in Istanbul for a brain tumor, he caught pneumonia and died on November 30, 2009. IMDB mini bio by yusufpiskin