The Story of Me (short and extended edition)
Yavuz Selim Isler (me) is a Dutch-Turkish cinematographer living in the Netherlands.
It’s quite funny to explain how I started. Without making it too cliché, I was once an 8-year-old boy with an obsession for film, making stop-motion videos with my Lego toys. I’ve always been a creative spirit because I drew a lot, but making videos fascinated me the most.
When I was 14, I was tired of being an amateur, so I knocked on the door of the local TV station to ask if I could work there as a cameraman and editor. Which I did, for about 5 years.
Then I went to study at the Graphic Lyceum in Rotterdam to take my step into film. My teacher, Peterjan van der Burgh, taught me the art of cinematography, and Robert M. Berger helped me gain more set experience. With my friend Bob Lemm, I graduated in 2017 with the short documentary film Boxer, one of the first films I was truly proud of!
In the summer of 2017, I shot my first feature film, Stille Storm, directed by Guido Coppis. After that, I was admitted to the Netherlands Film Academy for cinematography. During my studies, I did some really cool stuff, like shooting on 16mm film for Mehmet & Tim and Als Er Gedanst Is. I also met director Shriejan Paudel, who makes the sort of films I really enjoy. We became good friends and shot the thriller Para in 2020 and the political “middle finger” film Viral in 2021—a controversial movie about how unfair the system is against people of color.
In 2022, I worked with director Ali Asgari on the film About Me, which is traveling around Oscar-qualifying festivals in Europe, Asia and the US. After that I shot the short film On My Way with Shriejan Paudel, about social anxiety.
After those shorts, I shot my first American romantic comedy feature film Twisted Hearts for Michael Pinckney, and the psychological thriller 333 for Naturi-Naughton-Lewis.
I also work as a camera operator. I operated the Netflix original series Dirty Lines for DP Mick van Rossum, the TV movie De Sterfshow for DP Joris Bulstra, and the American feature film Unfavorable Odds for DP Michael Hawthorne.
For me, the most important thing is that the film touches the audience, and I’m not afraid of using style to get there. I honestly don’t care about all the minimalistic cinema; I just want to use my tools as a cinematographer to evoke a certain emotion and look. That’s what I’m here for. “Less is more” doesn’t exist in my film vocabulary. No, without kidding. I won’t hold myself back creatively. So if that’s what you’re looking for, let’s grab a hot chocolate (I don’t drink coffee).
