Lisa

Çalan

I was born on January 12, 1988, in Diyarbakır, into a politically active Kurdish family of eleven children. I had a difficult childhood due to the state's ongoing oppression of the Kurds.
Because Kurds were denied the right to education in their native language, I dropped out of school after high school, refusing to receive an education in Turkish.
Since I was a child, I dreamed of becoming a director and making films in my own language. With this goal, I studied film at the Aram Tigran City Conservatory, founded by the Diyarbakır Metropolitan Municipality, which conducted its cultural activities in the Kurdish language.
During my studies, I began participating in film projects. In 2013, I directed my first short film, Zimanê Çîya, as part of the resistance film movement.
While I was working on making films focused on human rights, I lost both legs in the ISIS bombing on June 5, 2015, during the People's Democratic Party election rally in Diyarbakır. After a long recovery process, I resumed participating in projects and festivals.
I currently work in film studies and festivals at the Middle East Cinema Academy. For four years, I served on the viewing committee of the Filmmor Women's Film Festival. Together with the Rosa Women's Association, I participated in The Purple Meridians project (2020-2023), which brought together groups of feminist filmmakers from three countries. Despite the intense commitment required by the pursuit of justice and telling my, or rather, our, story through my camera, in 2021 I completed my virtual reality film Siseban. I am the director of the third Amed Kurdish Film Festival and coordinator of the ninth FilmAmed International Documentary Film Festival. I am currently collaborating with a Mexican director on a documentary about my biography.