Biography

Cagla Demirbas (b. 1997, Ankara) got her BA from Istanbul Bilgi University’s Media and Communication (2020) and Film and Television (2022) departments as a salutatorian

and a valedictorian, respectively.

Inspired by psychodynamic psychotherapy and the history of analog photography, her work acts like a "backup memory" that deals with serendipity and parapraxes found in the everyday rhythm of life.

Her work “Media Omitted” (2022), a series of cross-processed double exposures that show the "what-if"s of a relationship, was awarded second place in the "Best Series" category at the 2023 American Photographic Artists (APA) Awards, and was nominated for Best Landscape at 2022 Head On Photo Awards. The same work was exhibited internationally including at the Pinakothek der Moderne, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (CICA), Mall Galleries, Der Greif, Pingyao International Photography Festival,

the Month of Photography Denver, Praxis Gallery, ZIRKA – Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Raum- und Kulturarbeit, and Mixer Arts. Her photography has been featured in various platforms like the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Photopia Cairo, TRT World, and Contemporary Istanbul.

Her first short screenplay titled “Room Service” was a finalist at the BAFTA- qualifying Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, and a quarter-finalist at Kerry International Film Festival.