Kutlug Ataman was born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1961. He studied film at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, graduating with a B.A. in 1985 and MFA in 1988 and has pursued a career both as a filmmaker and artist. Ataman has received critical acclaim for his films, which document the lives of marginalized individuals. The subjects in his films speak openly about their obsessions, life in the ghetto or sexuality. Ataman’s films examine the way in which we create and rewrite our identities through self-expression and the blurred line between reality and fiction. In 2004 Ataman was short-listed for the Turner Prize at the Tate Britain in London, and he participated in the Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, where he was awarded its prestigious Carnegie Prize.