You just defended your dissertation—congratulations! Can you briefly tell us what your doctoral thesis was about?
My dissertation and accompanying film are titled A Piece of Home: Documenting the ‘Other’ in the Age of Neo-Colonialism. The central concern of this project was to investigate how documentary film can function simultaneously as an artistic research practice and as a counter-hegemonical archive. Focusing on the lives of unrecognised migrants in Turkey, the work explored the dynamics of visibility, anonymity, and participation within the documentary process. By presenting the written dissertation and the film as an integrated whole, I sought to demonstrate how theoretical inquiry and artistic practice can continuously inform and challenge one another.
What were the particular challenges during your doctoral studies, and are you satisfied with the result?
The most significant challenge lay in negotiating the tension between ethical responsibility and aesthetic form: how to render the presence of communities who remain structurally unrecognised, while resisting modes of victimisation or exploitation. Balancing my dual role as filmmaker and researcher required constant self-reflection, yet this very difficulty became a productive space that shaped the project. I am satisfied with the outcome, not only in terms of the film and dissertation as final results, but also because the process itself generated new perspectives on the relationship between cinema, knowledge production, and artistic research.
What are your plans now?
Looking ahead, I intend to continue developing hybrid and essayistic films through my production company Layla Film, while also publishing selected parts of my dissertation in peer-reviewed journals. At the same time, I aim to strengthen the dialogue between artistic research and broader political and social debates on migration, human rights, and divided cities—both through filmmaking and academic teaching.
...and the bonus question: Which movie title would you use to describe your doctoral experience?
I would describe it with the title Tokyo Story—a journey marked by distance, quiet struggles, and subtle transformations. Much like Ozu’s film, my PhD process unfolded in silence and patience, where the unsaid and the overlooked gradually revealed profound meaning.