Zeynep always loved movies. So much so that she attended more university classes with her friend who was studying broadcasting than her own economics classes. She spent many hours volunteering at film festivals and attending screenings, choosing to spend her limited allowance on books and movies. These days, at her day job as a cultural sociologist, she studies food and identity, and uses movies, political cartoons and artistic projects as pedagogical tools when she teaches. She has co-authored an article on the Spanish movie 18 Meals (Jorge Coira, 2010), which was yet another attempt to bring together her love of the moving image with her professional life.
Zeynep is a Fulbright scholar, and director, writer, producer of the documentary Tables of Istanbul. After its premiere in April 2016, Tables of Istanbul has been screened at 27 film festivals in 15 countries. It has received nine awards and recognitions, and was broadcast by PBS. She perpetually dreams of making more movies but bingeing on murder mysteries and her day job get in the way.