Artist Statement
I am Samil Cimen, a Dutch-Turkish filmmaker.
My work explores themes such as identity, cultural differences, the search for a sense of home,
and self-reflection. Through fiction films, I aim to connect people and create a sense of recognition.
I write and make films based on my own experiences, which I translate into fiction.
In doing so, I explore who I am and what has shaped me. My stories are often small and intimate,
built around everyday moments that are charged with emotion. I use silence, dialogue, poetry,
and visual symbolism to make inner worlds visible.
As a child, I watched so many films that I sometimes found the medium more real than life itself.
Film evokes the deepest emotions in me and has a unique power to make the unspeakable felt.
Emotion is the beating heart of art for me – it enables connection on a soul level.
With my eyes, I try to look into my mind, into my soul,
and witness what unfolds there.
I achieve this through images,
showing a new world from my unique perspective.
Film allows me to make the inner world tangible – frame by frame.
My identity is both the starting point and the audience for my work.