Jury - Usak Winged Seahorse Short Film Festival

Ahmet Nalbant

Born in 1996, Ahmet E. Nalbant completed his undergraduate education at Yeditepe University, Department of Visual Communication Design. Following his graduation, Nalbant gained industry experience as a motion graphic designer across various advertising and branding agencies, and he continues his professional career as an academic staff member in the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Uşak University. Combining his background in visual form, aesthetics, and composition acquired from the design discipline with cinema theory and practice, the researcher pursues his academic studies at the intersection of visual communication design, cinema, and visual culture.

Devrim İnce

Devrim Ince completed his MA at the Department of Journalism, Institute of Social Sciences, Ege University, and his PhD at the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Institute of Social Sciences, Ege University. As a TÜBİTAK-funded visiting researcher, he spent part of his PhD candidacy at the Centre for Cultural Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London. He worked at various media companies as a reporter, news editor, and columnist for 17 years. His main areas of interest are the ideological and economic functions of the media, the structure of news organisations, and cultural studies. He is a faculty member at the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema, Uşak University.

Devrim İnce, academician/journalist, is a faculty member of Uşak University, Faculty of Communication, Radio-TV and Cinema Department. His main areas of interest are ideological and economical functions of media, structure of news organizations and cultural studies.

Gülfiz Ergin Demirdağ

Gülfiz Ergin Demirdağ is a postdoctoral research assistant in the Management and Organization Sub-Department of the Business Administration Department at Uşak University's Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Having completed her undergraduate studies in Business Administration and Communication, she holds a master's degree in Management and Organization, a PhD in Business Administration, and an associate degree in Social Media Management. Her academic research focuses on organizational behavior, gender, entrepreneurship, and social media.

Alongside her scientific work, she is deeply interested in cinema and literature. She views cinema as a way to understand different human conditions and social relations, and literature as a means to explore humanity and society through the lives of others. She participates in online film analysis workshops and maintains reading as a continuous, individual practice of thought. She also pursues her interest in arts and culture through her membership in the Istanbul-based Apart Art Association (Apart Sanat Derneği). Furthermore, she is interested in photography, yoga, and meditation—pursuits she maintains as practices that nourish her creativity, mindfulness, and perspective on daily life. For Ergin Demirdağ, learning, producing, watching, reading, and observing are different expressions of the same underlying curiosity to understand the world.

İlgi Duran

İlgi Duran graduated with honors from the Radio, Television and Cinema Department at Kadir Has University in 2024. Since graduation, she has worked as an assistant director, assistant production coordinator and junior producer on commercials, festival films and series for digital platforms. Duran has had the opportunity to work on projects by award winning directors such as Emin Alper, Dağhan Celayir and Ali Vatansever, gaining experience across different stages of the production process. She is particularly interseted in the organizational and coordination aspects of film production and continues to develop her career in this field.

Mehmet Tokatlı

Dr. Mehmet Tokatlı is a faculty member in the Department of Public Relations and Advertising at Trakya University’s Keşan Yusuf Çapraz School of Applied Sciences. His research examines the social, cultural, and technological dimensions of advertising, with particular emphasis on representations of family and gender, nationalist imagery, the neuroscientific investigation of consumer perception, digital marketing, and the impact of artificial intelligence on advertising practices. Drawing on semiotic analysis, visual analysis, and experimental research methods, he explores how advertisements produce meaning and shape consumer perceptions. Combining the professional experience he gained in advertising and public relations agencies prior to his academic career with his scholarly expertise, Tokatlı also works as an Advertising and Communication Consultant on short and feature film projects.

Merve Kaya

Merve Kaya was born in Eskişehir, Türkiye, in 1994. She graduated from the Faculty of Communication at Uşak University in 2019. Following her graduation, she worked in the fields of advertising and marketing. She has also written reviews and reflections on films she regularly watched, reflecting her interest in cinema and film culture. She currently works at a public university, where she continues her academic and professional work in the field of communication.

Murat Çevik

I was born in Gaziantep in 1985. I completed my elementary, middle, and high school education in Konya, and I graduated from the Department of Computer and Instructional Technologies at Ondokuz Mayıs University in Samsun in 2007. During college, I held various roles in film, theater, and music clubs. I am currently actively teaching computer science in Uşak Province and serving as a coordinator for new educational models. Since my high school years, I have intensively developed my skills in watching and analyzing films. My journey in making short films, which began in 2005, continues with passion. I believe cinema is the most powerful art form when it comes to transforming societies. Every year, I follow both national and international film festivals with great interest.

Nevra Ayan

Nevra Ayan was born in Uşak in 2001. She graduated from the Department of Radio, Television and Cinema at Uşak University. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on fiction, documentary, and experimental short films, directing films such as Hediye, 12 Poz, and Ben, Ben ve Ben. 12 Poz received First Prize in the Documentary Category at the 9th EgeArt Art Days National Short Film Competition and Second Prize at the 9th Uşak Short Film Festival. Her films have been screened and selected for competition at various national and international film festivals. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree while continuing her work in photography and video.

Onur Keşaplı

Born in İzmir in 1986. Directed his first short films at American Collegiate Institute, where he studied middle and high school. He graduated from Anadolu University, Faculty of Communication, Department of Cinema-TV in 2008. In 2012, he completed his masters degree in Department of Film Design at Dokuz Eylül University, Institute of Fine Arts with his thesis Cinematografic Presentation of Political Thinking in Turkey From 1960 to Present”, which was consulted by Prof. Dr. Oğuz Adanır. He received his Ph.D in 2019 in the Radio Television and Cinema Department at Ege University, Institute of Social Sciences with his thesis Representation of North American Natives in Hollywood Cinema After 1990”, which was consulted by Prof. Dr. Lale Kabadayı. He has been a director, writer and producer of numerous short films, documentaries, TV shows, videos and commercials. He has written film reviews in periodicals. He’s been in the jury for national and international film festivals. In addition to his visual and literary works on avangarde and esthetic modernist art as a member of “apart” – an art ensemble based in Istanbul – he works as an academician and lecturer at Uşak University, Faculty of Communication since 2013; and he is the founder & the director of The International Uşak Short Film Festival since 2014.

Özgür Keşaplı

Biologist, writer. Born in Burhaniye in 1975. Studied at Middle East Technical University, Biology department. Carried out pioneer studies on her thesis subject bird migration and also cetacean captivity. An essay she wrote was awarded at Galatasaray High School’s literature competition during high school. She wrote as a columnist at Cumhuriyet newspaper, Sol newspaper and Sol Portal between 2011 and 2016. Her articles on science, politics, literature and music was also published in various magazines and news portals such as Sözcükler, Bant, İnsan Bu and National Geographic. Between 2018 and 2022, she was the editor of a wildlife blog called “Dirimbilim Günlüğü” that she founded as part of Azizm Art Organization which combined science, art and culture. A short story called “The Dried and the drowned” which she has written while living in Alaska was adapted into a dance piece along with 12 other works for the performance titled “Off the Page” by Momentum Dance Collective. Currently her writings are published in Apart Art Society which she is a member of.

Pelin Gülcan

Pelin Gülcan is a Turkish screenwriter. She received her bachelor’s degree in English Language Teaching from Middle East Technical University (METU) and her master’s degree in Radio, Television and Cinema from the Faculty of Communication at Yeditepe University. After completing her studies, she worked as a copywriter and project manager at social media and advertising agencies for two years before pursuing a career in screenwriting. She has worked as a screenwriter on several television series, including Dolunay (Full Moon 2017), Bir Litre Gözyaşı (A Liter of Tears 2018), Hercai (Inconstant Love 2019–2020), Maraşlı (The Trusted 2021), Senden Daha Güzel (The Beauty Inside 2022), Sen Ağlama İstanbul (Shahrazad: Tears of İstanbul 2024–2025), and Aynadaki Yabancı (Stranger in the Mirror 2025). She is currently developing and writing new projects.

Shirin Eklasi

Shirin Eklasi is an Iranian filmmaker, visual effects artist, and senior colorist, born in 1998 in Isfahan. She studied animation at Soore Conservatory and later cinema at Tehran University of Art.

In 2017, she made Trap, a dystopian anti-war short film that won several awards at national festivals and was officially selected for the 60th Brno16 International Short Film Festival.

In 2019, during an exchange program with Babelsberg University in Germany, she made Black Canvas, a documentary about African asylum seekers in Berlin. In 2020, she created Gombie, an environmental animation for UNESCO.

Her latest film, Acid Base (2022), a thriller about acid attacks in Iran, was officially selected for the 20th In the Palace International Short Film Festival and shortlisted for the Short Shorts Film Festival.

Alongside filmmaking, Eklasi works as a senior colorist in Iran’s mainstream film industry. She is currently developing science fiction and fantasy projects with her team at Patrogue Production.

Tanya Ivanova

Tanya Ivanova is a set decorator/set designer at the film industry in Sofia, Bulgaria. She has worked in many commercials and movies from all around the world. For her, scenography is the way of expressing herself and embracing her creativity. She has studied Film and Television at New Bulgarian university. The two things that she love to do is watching movies and working in movies.

Festival Jury