Young Adventurer Elif Koyutürk

TurkMotorspor

11 January 2017

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Elif Koyutürk, born in 1993 in Istanbul, is a young adventurer, and a globally awarded rising director and photographer … We made a short interview with Elif, who makes everyone smile and who impresses us with the sincerity of her work.

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How was your education life?

After studying at TED College for 12 years, I continued my education at Bilgi University. In the meantime I took cinematography classes in Spain for one year and I was invited to a certificate program in Norway. But of course, I can say that education is 20% of this. The important thing is to be out in the streets working, and I gained heaps of experience as I was working.

We recognized you with your beautiful movies that you filmed with Transanatolia and Serkan Özdemir. How did this adventure become in motorsports community?

When I was 17, my childhood friend Kaan Sayın started to take me to offroad meetings every weekend. Besides I was raised in a farm and I always loved nature. I started to have a nice relationship with motorsports every weekend by virtue of nature and all wheels and in 2015 I filmed a race movie for Transanatolia. Audience loved it, I received loads of nice feedbacks and one of these feedbacks was from Serkan Özdemir. I directed and shot Serkan’s “Dakar Promosyon” film. We grabbed a nice audience and we had nice displays. It is a community that I truly respect; you can’t do this without liking it. After the shootings we were always covered in mud, I remember a day kilograms of sand pouring out of my shoes when I returned to my hotel! And of course there are those times that you strand at nighttime, then you have to set up a tent, light a fire and wait for the morning to come. I remember several times editing or writing in the tent, it is well said that great things always come from out of your comfort zone.

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We admired you through both your creativity and the quality of your videos at the shootings you did with Red Bull for Turkey Rally Championship in 2015… How did your rally adventure that you tracked for 8 months in Turkey begin in the first place?

My enterprise with Red Bull started in 2012, it has always been one of the 5 brands that I like the most, and shooting rallies for them for 8 months has been tiring but definitely priceless for me. We were filming every race, editing them and we were producing 2 videos at a day. I had another team-mate with me and as a result, 2015 Turkey Rally Championship has been an unforgettable memory for me.

You made a short movie about the championship of Yağız Avcı at Turkey Rally Championship, and we really liked that video. Are you thinking about making the long version of that?

I think Yağız Avcı is one of the most respectable sportsmen racing at Turkey Rally Championship. He is respectful and he was my friend at the rally shootings for 8 months. I edited a video about his championship battle in an hour and that video was liked a lot. .But for now, we don’t have any plan to make the feature-length version of it. Maybe in the future! Why not…

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We also know you from the abroad productions that you participate in, how did you start to work abroad?

I worked as a cameraman at Hard-Enduro series which Red Bull Media House and Throttle Entertainment, two companies I joined in Brazil, undertook. I got the chance to meet the team at the Red Bull Sea to Sky enduro race in Kemer, I was there as a director and producer for KTM. In short, they watched my films and they enjoyed them. 2 months later, I was in Brazil, and 1 month later I started to work with KISKA, KTM’s production company. I started to film big budget motorcycle advertisements, and brand stories. It had been a 7 month long adventure, and I gained perfect experience and people. Everything was connected, what is important is the right people to watch the right things at the right places…

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You caught pretty good achievements at this young age of yours. Recently, you won recognition with your last solo short movie “Good Morning Louise” (“Günaydın Lousie”). Congratulations, with this film you expressed the other side of your work other than motorsports. How did this course of events happen?

Thank you very much! For me, human stories are very important; I always seek for a story. Louise is a 97 year old woman who went to Austria during World War II. She was always an inspiration for me. When I was living in Austria, Louise used to live downstairs. One day I went downstairs and we shot the film in 2 hours. It became a nice portrait film. Currently I can’t tell you the exact names because they are not certain yet but we will be watching Louise in some festivals this summer.

What is the most important thing in life for you?

Family, and self-belief. Nothing can stop a person who has self-belief, that’s why it is so important. And my family gave me my vision; they are very much valuable people…

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We also admired your photographs which awarded you “Sony Photography Commended Photographer” award and Travel Leisure’s “100 Stunning Photos of the World” award. What are your plans for 2017, will you be holding new photograph exhibitions?

Yes, I will be holding several exhibitions. One of them will be at Consulate General of Austria, it will be in April, and all readers are welcome!

What are your plans for the future?

Currently I am working on a movie, surprise! For the future, I am planning to continue on producing in America. Let’s see… Everything is depending on hard work and chance.

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Thank you Elif, I wish you a continued success; keep on making us proud…

For Good Morning Louise: www.vimeo.com/193306686

Details in Nature: www.vimeo.com/189763745

Instagram: www.instagram.com/eliffkoyuturk