In Turkey, more women are involved in the film industry in all roles, including as directors, actresses, cinematographers, film producers and other film industry professionals. Women directors focus on many issues, including gender, social, political issues in their works in the country. Esra Yıldız, one of these women, is a director, scriptwriter and cinematographer. Esra Yıldız is the filmmaker, cinematographer and screenwriter of the documentary film entitled, “Stateless (2021)”.

The story of two journalists

Stateless is a documentary film telling the story of two dissident journalists, Doğan Özgüden and İnci Tuğsavul Özgüden, who were forced to leave Turkey after the 1971 Turkish military memorandum and whose citizenship was revoked in 1982. The documentary film tells how Doğan Özgüden and inci Tuğsavul Özgüden, who have been living in exile in Brussels since 1974, keep their vision of a world free of discriminatory ideologies at the multicultural education center Atelier du Soleil (The Sun Workshops) of which they are founders.

The documentary film screened at festivals

The documentary film was screened at many film festivals including at the 58th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, at the 25th Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival, at the International Women Directors Film Festival and at the 17th Turkish Documentary and Short Film Festival held in Boston. The documentary was awarded by the jury at the Turkish Documentary and Short Film Festival.