Aren Perdeci

Aren Perdeci is an Armenian filmmaker. He has established a reputation for arts & crafts cinematography and a bold visual style. He is best known for the independent feature films "Wrong Time Travellers" (2007) and "Lost Birds" (2015). Aren Perdeci was born and raised in Yesilköy, Istanbul. He graduated from Galatasaray High School in 1997. His mother was a airport stewardess and his father was a construction engineer. At a young age he was obsessed with his father's Vhs camera and began making homemade films and editing them on camera. He studied public relations at the Istanbul Bilgi University and after attending some courses at the film department he decided to study film and he received his B.A in film studies from Istanbul Bilgi University. He completed his Master's degree in Marmara University Radio and TV Department. After graduating film school Perdeci started to work as an assistant director in films and commercials. He was obsessed with making his first feature film and he realized his debut "Wrong Time Travellers" in 2005 at the age of 25. "Wrong Time Travellers" was about a young author obsessed with his past and his dreams. The film has an experimental narrative shifting four different worlds; the past, the present, inside the novel and the dreams. Perdeci wrote, directed, produced and edited the film. Shot on Super 16mm with an innovative style to directing, "Wrong Time Travelles" premiered at the 34th International Brussels Film Festival and won an honorable mention, the film was also screened at the Golden Apricot Film Festival at Yerevan in 2008. After meeting writer-director Ela Alyamac, the duo began a five year journey to realize "Lost Birds" (2015) which would become a second feature for both directors. "Lost Birds" is the first film shot in Turkey to depict the great tragedy of 1915. The screenplay of "Lost Birds" was selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Margaret Herrick Library's Core Collection in 2016 for educational and archival purposes. The cinematography and period production design are exquisitely crafted across the entire film, "Lost Birds" was featured in American Cinematographer Magazine's September 2015 issue, singing praises to its stunning cinematography. The ten page article was a first for a project from Turkey at the legendary magazine. Perdeci also served as the director of photography for "Lost Birds". Admiringly reviewed by the HFPA at the 2015 Golden Globes, "Lost Birds" was premiered at the Egyptian Theatre in LA in 2015 and won the Armin T. Wegner Humanitarian Award at the Arpa International Film Festival along with best feature film and best director awards The film was also congratulated by the then governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Lost Birds" became a signature work both for Aren Perdeci and Ela Alyamac. The film was also theatrically released in 2015 in Los Angeles, in Glendale. After this theatrical release, the film was eligible to apply for the Academy Awards from the U.S. "Lost Birds" was released in Turkey in April 1, 2016. It was the fist film which was able to build a bridge between the Turkish audience and the tragic events of 1915. "Lost Birds" was the first film about the 1915 Armenian tragedy shot in Turkey and for the first time Armenians in Turkey were presented on screen as they were. Many Armenian audience members in Turkey felt that for the first time Armenians and Armenian way of life was depicted truthfully. The Canadian premiere of "Lost Birds" was at the Pomegranate Film Festival in Toronto, in 2016. The film received Best Feature film and the Audience Choice Awards. In 2018 "Lost Birds" was the opening film in Sydney, Australia at the Armenian Film Festival. Perdeci's favorite themes are time, moments, memory and inner relations of family. In ''Wrong Time Travellers'', the main character is obsessed with his past and tries to recall moments from his childhood in order to complete his novel. ''Lost Birds'' is a poignant story about a time gone by and the films tries to capture the beautiful memory of an era. Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Orson Welles and Max Ophüls are his favorite directors and influences.