Curriculum Vitae
Languages
Turkish (native)
English (native fluency)
French (fluent)
Spanish (beginner)
German (A2)
Professional Affiliations
Founding member of Beyond Istanbul: Center of Spatial Justice
Audio-visual PH.D. Group, Goldsmiths, University of London.
Departmental Service
Film Certificate Coordinator, Koc University
2013–2017
Other Academic Experience
Workshop and Screening Organization
Organizer of the seminar by Vasif Kortun, Koç University.
2015
Organized weekly documentary screenings titled “Stranger than Fiction”.
Organizer of a seminar given by Aylin Zoi Tinel, Koç University.
2014
Organizer of the screening and seminar given by Orhan Eskiköy, Koç University.
Organizer of the panel discussion led by Aaron Cezar, Director of Delfina Foundation, London. “The Artist’s Toolkit for International Opportunities” at Sabancı University. (Aaron Cezar was accompanied by Abbas Akhavan and Aslı Çavuşoğlu.)
2013
Organizer of an artist talk given by Banu Cennetoğlu (Venice Biennale Turkish Pavillion, 2009), at Sabancı University.
2012
Organizer of an artist talk given by Yasemin Özcan, at Sabancı University.
Organizer of an artist talk given by Ali Kazma (Venice Biennale for Turkish Pavillion, 2014), at Sabancı University.
2011
Organizer of a seminar given by Necati Sönmez (Director of Documentarist) at Sabancı University.
2010
Publications
Pekun, D. & Mohaiemen, Naeem (2017). “Never liked goodbyes anyway” e-flux
Pekun, D. (2017). “Can’t help it; the oldest mind on the planet is hot” Laure Prouvost in Conversation with Didem Pekün, e-flux
Selected Screenings and Exhibitions
Istanbul Film festival, Documentary Competition
Between Bridges, Solo Exhibition
2024
Sinema Transtopia
STATIONS
2023
Rewinding Internationalism, Netwerk Aalst
Van AbbeMuseum - Rewinding Internationalism
2022
65th BFI London Film Festival
Imagine Something New, Like Justice, Gallery Wedding
Shifting Patterns @ Kunstverein Tiergarten
2021
Van Abbemuseum ‘Araf' exhibition
Lulea biennale, Sweden
2020
Moderna Museet, Stockholm
Where is cinema going?”, Istanbul
2019
Forum Expanded, Berlinale
Geometries, Athens
Istanbul Film Festival, Documentary Competition
Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Hawick
Summer Nostos Festival, Athens
Sarajevo Film Festival, Documentary Competition
Festival Diritti Umani, Lugano
Lulea Biennale, Sweden
Gezici Festival, Ankara, Focus on Didem Pekün’s films in a program titled “I want to feel”
Human Rights Foundation Cinema Days, İzmir
2018
“Sen ve Ben”, 5533
“Sis”, DEPO
‘In Spite of’, Documenta 14 Public Program Athens / Kassel
“Thickness of Time”, Locus Athens
2017
33rd Kassel Dok Fest
“Freundschaftsspiel”, Museum für Neue Kunst Freiburg
“Of Dice and Men”, solo at Delfina Foundation
“Through the Fog”, State of Concept, Athens
2016
“Joy, Passion, Fury” MAXXI, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome
56th Venice Biennale, Curriculum, Creative Arts Summit
“A Century of Centuries”, SALT Istanbul
2015
Screening of The Dream of Shahrazad (dir. Francois Verster,
Associate Producer. Didem Pekün)
27th IDFA, Masters Section
Fuse Art Space, UK
2014
59th Oberhausen Film Festival, Germany
Sheffield Fringe, UK
Arnolfini, UK
“Panorama Méditerranéen" du Festival Millenium, Belgium
2013
Tropentheater, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Culture Unplugged, India
2012
Punto de Vista Film Festival, Spain
Chennai Film Festival, India
Museum of Modern Art of Castille, Spain
Kolaj Istanbul — Gaiete Lyrique — Paris, France
Mostra internacional de films de dones de Barcelona, Spain
1001 Documentary Film Festival, Turkey
San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain
New Caledonia Film Festival
2011
29th Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey
13th Flying Broom Film Festival, Ankara, Turkey
3rd Documentarist, Istanbul, Turkey
Exeter University “New Perspectives on Turkey”, UK
Adana Altın Koza, Turkey
Antalya Altın Portakal, Turkey
Cologne Film Festival, Germany
London Turkish Film Festival, UK
WOMEX, Denmark
New York Turkish Film Festival, USA
Anapop — Istanbul, Turkey
2010
Berlinale Talent Campus, Germany
Festival Internacional de curtas-metragens de Sao Paolo, Brazil
2008
Awards and Residencies
Between Bridges
2024
Residency at IASPIS
2021
Grant by SAHA for new film
2020
UdK Grant for two years residency
monthly stipend + studio
2019–2021
Foundation for Arts Initiatives Research Grant
2019
Best Documentary in Human Rights, Sarajevo Film Festival
Visegrad Grant
Grant for new production New Film Fund
2018
ZK/U (Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik), Berlin
Artist in residence
2017–2018
Grant by SAHA
Commission for a new film – Locus Athens
Nominee for A 38 Production Grant Kassel
2017
Commission for a New Project by SAHA
2015
Commission for a New Project by SALT
2014
Delfina Foundation, London
2 months
2013
Research Residency, SALT, Istanbul
2 months
2012
Ph.D. Scholarship, Royal Holloway, University of London (declined)
Nominated to Best Documentary by SIYAD (Turkish Film Critics Association).
2011
British Council, ‘Creative Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Cinema’
2010
Greenhouse Documentary Development Project, funded by the EU
2009
Berlinale Talent Campus
2008
Dolby Digital Award for the School of Sound Symposium.
University of London Award for the School of Sound Symposium.
2007
Selected Presentations
Paper at Conference “Secrets, Treasures and Sharing; Artistic Research
Conversation with Erden Kosova & Nil Mutluer
“Chromatic Wednesday: Freedom of Speech under Siege: Solidarities and Limitations in Turkey”
2021
Berlinale Forum, conversation with Clarissa Thieme
Interflugs, Conversation with Ovul O . Durmusoglu
Art in Dark Times, Conversation with Galit Eliat & Erden Kosova
2020
Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Conversation with Petra Bauer and Kim West as part of Filmclub
2019
Stuck in Migration. Waiting Zones and (Internment) Camps, A joint international conference in Budapest and Munich, co-organized by IAS CEU and CAS LMU. “Between Movement and Stasis: Aesthetics and Politics of Migrant Itineraries in Contemporary Essay Filmmaking”
2018
Hebbel Am Ufer, Berlin, Violence of Inscriptions
58th Annual Conference of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies, Chicago, Illinois
2017
DAI, Roaming Assembly#7 intraAction: TransUrbanism
Visible Evidence XXIII, New Frontiers in Documentary, Montana State University
Conference: Cinema and Time in Films from Turkey, Kadir Has University, Turkey
In conversation with Teju Cole, UK
In conversation with Nick Aikens, UK
2016
Symposium: Crossing Borders, Traversing Narratives, University of St. Andrews, “Two Essay Films from Turkey”
Conference: World Cinema and the Essay-film, University of Reading, UK. “Two Essay Films from Turkey”
In conversation with November Paynter, SALT, Turkey
2015
Conference: Video Vortex, SALT Istanbul and Bahcesehir University. [With Hale Tenger] “Art, Archives, and Activism.”
2014
Conference: Performing Documents, University of Bristol, UK. “Performing the Self”.
Seminar Of Dice and Men, Audio-Visual PhD Group, Goldsmiths, University of London
2013
Perspectives from Turkey in the New Millennium Conference, University of Exeter. “Tülay German: A Forgotten Icon.”
2010
Conference: Mental Health and Human Rights: Sociological Perspectives [with Margaret Jessop]. University of Warwick, UK. “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered: Coercive Treatment within Mental Health Services and Films for Education of Professionals”
2007
Professional Experience
Stipendiat*innen @ Berliner Künstlerische Forschung
2022-2024
Kadir Has University, Film and Television Department
-
Experimental Cinema
-
Artistic Research
Sept. 2021-April 2022
Universität der Künste, Berlin Centre for Advanced Studies
in Arts and Sciences (BAS) / Graduiertenschule Fellow
April 2019-April 2021
Central European University, Budapest, Fellow, Visual
Studies Platform & Institute for Advanced Study
-
Visual Grammar
-
Artistic Research
Sept. 2017-May 2018
Goldsmiths, Visual Cultures Department, Visiting Research Fellow
2017-2018
Koc University; Full-time Lecturer
-
Documentary Film: Theory and Practice
-
Video Art and Installation: Theory and Practice
-
Video Basics
-
Film Theory
-
Independent and Graduation Projects
Sept. 2013-Jan. 2019
Sabancı University; Part-time Lecturer
-
Documentary Film: Theory and Practice
2011-2013
Bilgi University; Part-time Lecturer
-
Non-Linear Editing
2008
Education
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
Ph.D., Visual Cultures
Supervisors Dr. Nicole Wolf & Prof. Tony Dowmunt
Examinors: Dr. Alisa Lebow & Gail Pearce
2014–2016
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
M.Phil. Visual Cultures
Supervisors Dr. Nicole Wolf & Prof. Tony Dowmunt
Examinors: Dr. Mark Fisher & Dr. Ros Gray
2011-2014
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
M.A. Screen Documentary – Merit
“Improvisation in Documentary Film”
2006-2007
SOAS, University of London, UK
BA (Hons) Ethnomusicology – Merit
2002-2005