Meet the new KDocsFF emerging filmmaker in residence
Gündüz was presented the award at the Sundar Prize Film Festival's closing ceremony on April 26
Özgün Gündüz is working on two film projects during her time at KPU. (Submitted)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University has a new filmmaker joining its Surrey campus community.
Özgün Gündüz, a Turkish filmmaker and film programmer, is the winner of this year’s KDocsFF Emerging Filmmaker Residency Prize. The award is presented by KPU’s social justice documentary film festival, KDocsFF, and Sher Pride, a Metro Vancouver-based charity that supports the South Asian queer community and allies. The residency prize is handed out annually at Sher Pride’s Sundar Prize Film Festival.
During Gündüz’s four-month summer residency based in the KDocsFF Social Justice Lab, they will lead documentary workshops, work on two film projects, and host a special screening on Oct. 15 to preview a rough cut of her most recent documentary.
Gündüz also led a special screening of their short documentary Burcu’s Angels, which won her the residency prize, at KPU Day on May 8. The film is about a Vancouver vintage store run by Turkish queer elder Burcu Özdemir.
Gündüz says the inspiration behind Burcu’s Angels came from their friendship with Özdemir.
“We met over time, and she became a really close friend,” Gündüz says. “I wanted to make a film, and she was an amazing person.”
From there, Gündüz began seeking grant funding for the documentary, so she could pay her collaborators working on the film. Through the filmmaking process, Gündüz was given archival footage of Özdemir, which helped fill in the gaps of her backstory and “made the film a lot richer.”
She hopes audiences of the documentary left feeling “a bit more hopeful about humanity.”
“These are dark times,” Gündüz says. “I think these kinds of places where people gather and connect and take care of each other are so important to preserve and to keep.”
Gündüz is now in post-production on their next short documentary.
“I don’t know if it’s the same film I want to make [as Burcu’s Angels], or if it’s an entirely different film about maybe family, grief, and memory,” Gündüz says. “This [residency] will allow me the space to see, sit down, and go through that post-production.”
They add that four months is a short time to make a film, so she may only complete one stage of the process.
“Maybe people are working fast, but my process is really slow.”
Gündüz says this residency will be about building relationships, finding the KDocsFF residency as the “perfect fit” because social justice is their primary area of interest.
She adds that she is excited about forming connections with the KPU community.
“I think meeting people and interacting with students, interacting with the faculty members, learning from them, and getting help and support on my next project [are] exciting.”
