Deniz Gamze Ergüven – Director of Mustang

Deniz Gamze Ergüven (born 4 June 1978) is a Turkish-French film director best known for her debut film Mustang.

Early life and education

Ergüven was born in Ankara, Turkey but emigrated to France in the 1980s. She grew up and went to school in France. She attended La Fémis and graduated in 2008.

Film career

In 2011 Ergüven was invited to attend the Cannes Film Festivals Atelier to help develop her project,The Kings. While there she met fellow director Alice Winocour who was there to develop her first feature film Augustine. After Ergüven was unable to find financing for her film Winocour suggested she write a more intimate piece leading the two to begin work on the script for Mustang.

Her debut film Mustang premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Europa Cinemas Label Award. It later played in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was selected as the French entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards.

Personal life

Ergüven was pregnant while filming Mustang and gave birth to her son on February 11, 2015.