Trivia

Accepted the Best Director award in 2008 Cannes Film Festival by saying, "I dedicate this award to my lonely and beautiful country, which I passionately love.".

Yasujiro Ozu is his favorite director.

His ten favorite films are Andrei Rublev (1966), Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), L'Avventura (1960), L'Eclisse (1962), Late Spring (1949), A Man Escaped (1956), The Mirror (1975), Persona (1966), Shame (1968), and Tokyo Story (1953).

Loves snow very much which is why he always uses it in his films.

Studied electrical and electronics engineering at the Bogazici (Bosphorus) University.

With Three Monkeys (2008), he become the first Turkish director to make the Oscar shortlist in the Academy Awards Foreign Language Film category.

Six (Distant (2002), Climates (2006), Three Monkeys (2008), Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011), Winter Sleep (2014) and The Wild Pear Tree (2018)) of his films have presented at Cannes. Only one (The Wild Pear Tree (2018)) of them didn't win any award. The other five won seven awards including the Palme d'Or.

The starting point for him to be a filmmaker was reading the autobiography of Roman Polanski titled "Roman" in which Polanski's life from concentration camps to Hollywood inspired him.

President of the jury at the Sarajevo Film Festival in 2008.

Decided to be a filmmaker during his military service.

Member of the main competition jury in Cannes in 2009.

Dedicated his 2004 Cannes Film Festival "Foreign Cineaste of the Year" award to his favorite famous Turkish actor Yilmaz Güney.

According to himself, he wouldn't be a filmmaker without the International Istanbul Film Festival which provided him with an opportunity to see the movies he otherwise wouldn't have seen.

Is also a photographer.

Member of the "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences" (AMPAS) since 2016.

During the production of films, there is an "absoulte minimum" number of takes for Ceylan which is 10. He also considers takes up to 40 as normal.

Considers Anton Checkhov as the biggest influence on his filmmaking.

Until Iklimler (2006), his films were made on low budgets, with casts generally consisting of amateur actors, most of whom were family members (such as his mother and father).

Considers Robert Bresson, Yasujiro Ozu, Andrei Tarkovsky, and Michelangelo Antonioni as his teachers.

Doesn't believe in "sound realism" when it comes to mixing and designing the sound.

Member of the jury at the 42nd Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in 2005. (with actress Hülya Koçyigit, actress Zuhal Olcay, actor Aytaç Arman, actor Kenan Isik and director Ferzan Özpetek).

Has claimed he has a "Russian soul".

Was in his mid-30s before he picked up a camera. 36 when he made his first short.

Was the jury president in the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival.

In an agreement he signed with his French producer, there is a clause that says that if the film he makes is longer than 150 minutes, the producer will pay him less.

Ended his long-running collaboration with the distribution company, Zeynofilm, because they didn't like the fact that he wasn't willing to do a lot of interviews. They wanted him to do more interviews, and he refused, and then parted ways.

His modern filmmaking heroes include Christi Puiu, Carlos Reygadas and Jia Zhangke.

Shares the same birthday as his wife, Ebru Ceylan, albeit in a different year; hers is 1976, while his is 1959.