Turkish writer/director Ceylan Özgün Özçelik’s debut feature INFLAME made its world premiere at the 67th Berlinale Panorama and won Luna Gamechanger Award at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2017. FilmRise has acquired North American rights to Inflame. Special edition Blu-Ray is released on 15 January 2018. Now streaming on Amazon Prime!
Her nightmare is reality and reality is a total nightmare.
A news channel employee Hasret, has been seeing the same nightmare for quite some time.
Through recurring nightmares, a question creeps into her mind:
Is it possible that her parents were not killed in a traffic accident twenty years ago
but have died in some other, horrific way.
Kaygı / Inflame (Based on a True Nightmare)
Country: Turkey
Genre: Psychological thriller
Runtime: 94 min
Partners & Funds: !f Istanbul Sundance Screenwriters Lab,
New Directors FEST Pitching Forum
Turkish Ministry of Culture 'First Feature Film' Support
Adahan Istanbul Hotel
Fongogo Crowdfunding Campaign
Meetings on the Bridge Work In Progress Anadolu Efes Award
Director Ceylan Özgün Özçelik
Script Ceylan Özgün Özçelik
Production Istanbul Film Production, Armağan Lale (Filmada),
Ceylan Özgün Özçelik (EHY Film Production)
Contact Armağan Lale
armagan@filmada.net

kaygı/inflame 2017
SELECTED FESTIVALS and AWARDS
- 2017
- Berlin International Film Festival - Panorama Special
- 2017
- SXSW - Luna Gamechanger Award for Best Narrative
- 2017
- Istanbul International Film Festival - National Competition
- 2017
- Ankara International Film Festival - Special Jury Award, Best Art Direction
- 2017
- Sitges International Film Festival – Noves Visions Competition
- 2017
- Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma – International Competition
- 2017
- Ithaca Fantastik – Cinemapur Competition
- 2017
- Roma MedFilm Festival - International Competition
- 2017
- Eurasia International Film Festival - International Competition
- 2017
- Sao Paulo International Film Festival – New Filmmakers Competition
- 2017
- Tblisi International Film Festival - Forum of European Cinema
- 2017
- Maine International Film Festival
- 2017
- Rendezvous with Madness Film Festival
- 2017
- Norköpping International Film Festival
- 2018
- Pune International Film Festival - Asian Cinema
- 2018
- SİYAD Turkish Film Critics Association Awards: Best First Feature, Best Music (Ekin Fil)
BIO
Born in 1980, in Turkey. Özçelik studied law at the Marmara University in Istanbul, but never practiced.
After working as a text writer in TV channels and as a DJ in a radio station, started to produce, write and host a TV show on cinema called “En Heyecanlı Yeri”, which was aired for almost ten years. Add to that she produced and wrote four other culture-art TV programmes.
For fourteen years, she had written film reviews for online and print media. A book of interviews and media memoirs called "Dikkat Çekim Var!” written by her, published in 2013.
In between 2005-2011, she edited behind the scenes, cinema award videos, production company trailers and documentaries. Her short films have screened at various festivals including Bratislava Art and Festroia.
Her feature film debut KAYGI/INFLAME, a thriller about memory and mass media, has made its world premiere at the 67. Berlinale Panorama and won Luna Gamechanger Award at South by Southwest (SXSW) where the film had its North American premiere. Inflame has screened more than 40 other festivals worldwide.
Özçelik is currently developing her second feature 18+, which is a dark comedy about women and violence for quite some time now. 18+ was among the projects of Meetings On The Bridge and won the Visual Effects Award in 2017. Özçelik is an artist-in-residence for 2018 at Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.
FEATURE FILM
2017 Kaygı / Inflame (Based on a True Nightmare) - Psychological Thriller
Script, Director, co-producer
TV SERIES
2017 7Yüz (Episode: Karşılaşmalar)
Director
SHORT FILMS
2011 Adil ya da Değil / By Any Means Necessary - Mystery
Script, Director, Producer
2009 Onlar Birbirlerini Sevdiler Ama... / So-Called Love Story! - Musical Comedy
Script, Director, Editor, Producer

karşılaşmalar (7yüz) 2017
INFLAME SELECTED INTERVIEWS
Radio Eins - Berlinale Nighttalk mit Knut Elstermann
Tagesspiegel Daniela Sannwald (German)
Variety Nick Vivarelli (English)
Film de Culte Nicolas Bardot (French)
Women and Hollywood Rachel Montpelier (English)
Politiken Johan Varning Bendtsen (Danish)
INFLAME SELECTED REVIEWS AND ARTICLES
Blind Field Inflame Review Kenan Behzat Sharpe (English)
Perlentaucher Inflame Review Thekla Dannenberg (German)
Hollywood Reporter Inflame Review Stephen Dalton (English)
Movie Break Inflame Review Lida Bach (German)
Nightmarish Conjurings Inflame Review Craig Thayer (English)
Sitges Film Festival Journal (Spanish)
Cyclic Defrost Magazine Inflame Soundtrack Review (English)
Brainwashed Inflame Soundtrack Review (English)
Wrote / Directed / Edited / Hosted
- 2002-2004
- Best Media radio and TV shows – Assistant, Host, Editor
- 2003-2004
- Energy Media Productions – Text writer
- 2003
- Weekly show Sinemedya broadcasted on ATV Channel – Text writer
- 2003-2012
- Weekly show En Heyecanlı Yeri/Climax broadcasted on Skyturk 360 (471 episodes) - Producer, Editor, Host
- 2005-2015
- Film reviews: Istanbul Life Magazine, Altyazi Magazine, Empire Turkey, FotoFilm, Sinema Magazine, Cumhuriyet Newspaper, eksisinema.com, arkapencere.com, etc.)
- 2006-2012
- TV programme about DVDs upcoming, called DeVeDe KULAK broadcasted on Skyturk 360 – Producer, Editor, Host
2007-2011 Short films
- 2007
- Nisan’ın Her Tarafı Vicdan Olsa / How Much Does Pride Cost? – Screenplay, Director, Producer
- 2009
- Onlar Birbirlerini Sevdiler Ama… / A So Called Love Story! - Screenplay, Director, Editor, Producer
- 2011
- Adil ya da Değil / By Any Means Necessary - Screenplay, Director, Producer
- 2008
- 40th Turkish Film Critics Association Turkish Cinema Awards Honorary Awards - Co-editor
- 2009-2010
- 41st and 42nd Turkish Film Critics Association Turkish Cinema Awards Nominees and Honorary Awards – Co-editor
- 2010
- Tayfun Pirselimoğlu – Saç / Hair Behind the Scenes- Camera, Editing
- 2010
- Erman Film (Production Company) Trailer - Editor
- 2010-2011
- FILM-YÖN (Film Directors' Union) Project: Documentary Series: Turkish Film Directors – Interviewer, Co-editor
- 2012
- Daily culture-art show called Seans broadcasted on Skyturk 360 - Producer, Editor, Host
- 2012-2013
- Kültür Mafyasi Magazine - Editor
- 2013
- Her book of interviews and media notes called “Dikkat Çekim Var! / Silence We're Rolling! ” was published.
- 2013-2014-2015
- Daily, global and live culture-art show Zamandan Mekandan – Editor, Host
Presented / Spoke
- 2011
- “Producing culture-art programmes” presentation at Festival on Wheels / Goethe-Institut Ankara
- 2012
- “Short Film in Turkey” forum at Bogazici University Mithat Alam Film Center, Speaker
- 2014
- “Producing culture-art programmes” presentation at 8. Eskişehir Palto Film Days
- 2017
- “The journey of a debut film” presentation at Bilkent University
- 2018
- “The journey of a debut film” presentation at Yasar University
- 2018
- “The journey of a debut film” presentation at Izmir Economy University
- 2018
- “Women in Film” talk at the Kadir Has University, speaker
- 2018
- “From the Idea to the Screen: Inflame” case study at the Meetings on the Bridge / Istanbul Film Festival
- 2018
- “Women in Film: What has changed until today and what is next?” talk at the Meetings on the Bridge / Istanbul Film Festival, Speaker
Juried
- 2008
- 45. International Antalya Film Festival, Critics Jury
- 2009
- International Bursa Silk Road Film Festival, Critics Jury
- 2009-2010
- 20. and 21. Istanbul International Short Film Festival, Jury member
- 2009-2010
- Istanbul High School International Short Film Competition, Jury member
- 2010
- International Malatya Film Festival, Critics Jury
- 2010
- 7. TURSAK Filmmakers Of Tomorrow, Jury member
- 2010
- Teen Shorts Film Festival, Jury member
- 2010
- 13. Flying Broom International Women's Film Festival, Fipresci Jury
- 2011
- 22. Ankara International Film Festival - Short Competition Jury member
- 2012
- 23. Ankara International Film Festival - Documentary Competition Jury member
- 2012
- 19. International Adana Golden Ball Film Festival - Short Competition Preliminary Jury
- 2012
- 49. International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival - International Competition Critics Jury
- 2013
- 12. !f Istanbul Film Festival, Critics Jury
- 2013
- 9. Yıldız Short Film Competition Jury Member
- 2015
- 26. Ankara International Film Festival - Short Competition Preliminary Jury
- 2017
- Contact International Student Film Festival - Jury member
- 2018
- TURSAK Filmmakers Of Tomorrow - Jury member
- 2018
- Istanbul International Film Festival - Short Film Competition Jury member
