UMUT VEDAT

Umut Vedat is a visual storyteller whose work lives at the intersection of documentary, art, and social inquiry. With a foundation built across continents—cemented by a Master’s in cinematography from the SZFE Budapest, IADT Dublin, and BFM Tallinn consortium—the practice is dedicated to exploring the profound complexities of human experience, from cultural memory and discrimination to our relationship with the environment.

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Umut's work is driven by a belief in art's capacity for empathy and change. This has led to sustained collaborations with NGOs including Greenpeace, the European Climate Foundation, La Via Campesina, and the Armenian Heritage Foundation, and for projects to be amplified by platforms such as The Guardian, Le Monde, and the Angkor Photo Festival.

An evolving artistic journey has moved from the activist core of the documentary "Dark Atlas" (2016) and a TEDx talk on cultural empathy, into more abstract explorations of movement and form through dance films and the large-scale light performance "Syntax Error" (2020) in Öövalgel Light Festival. This research into the body culminated in the first Drama short film, "Lukus" (2021) in Estonia.

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Currently, Umut is based in Tallinn and is developing new works that continue to challenge form and subject. This includes the ongoing production of the feature-length documentary "Tie Me (k)Not," an intimate examination of power, consent, and the structures of modern masculinity.

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Through a lens focused on both the political and the poetic, the work seeks to frame the quiet and loud truths that connect us all.