Emirhan Cangül
Directing
Biography
Emirhan Cangül (b. 1999, Bursa) began his cinema education at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Department of Cinema and Television in 2017. His filmography includes the short films Koza Han Kadar Yalnız (2020), The Fish (Balık, 2021), Dear Diary (Sevgili Günlük, 2025), and Arena (2025). He received the Best Film Award for The Fish and won the First Prize at the 10th Sabancı Foundation Short Film Competition with his latest film, Arena.
Known For
The innocent lines of a young girl’s diary recount the visit of her father’s colleagues, the games played in the garden, and the weight of the summer heat through her naïve perspective. Yet, when a “snowflake” falls onto her notebook, it slowly begins to reveal traces of another, unseen reality. What starts with childhood innocence and joy gradually touches upon a far heavier truth of our time.
Dear Diary
ARENA is a high-octane quiz show pulsating with an unrelenting rhythm of light and percussion. In the grand finale, two opposite worlds collide: The prestigious Private Saint Papillon French College, a generational winner, and Demirtaş Külhan Vocational High School, a newcomer fighting for existence. While the scores are tied, the conditions are not. The tension peaks with the final question. What is mere academic knowledge for one student is a harsh, lived reality for the other. As the final bell rings, the boards will reveal not just a winner, but the unbridgeable socioeconomic abyss that separates their lives.
Arena
A football lover boy, who falls in love with the newcomer girl in the neighborhood, accidentally kills her best friend, which is the fish. Then he breaks some rules for gaining her heart.