Bilkent COMD

Uçan Süpürge Uluslararası Kadın Filmleri Festivali Üniversiteler Buluşması’nı bölümümüzde ağırladık. 🎬

22 Nisan’da FB309’da gerçekleşen “Sinemada Kadın” söyleşisinde Alin Taşçıyan, Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu ve Damla Sönmez ile Till Death Do Us Part, Henry is a Girl Who Likes to Sleep ve Mükemmel filmleri üzerine konuştuk.

Festivali bölümümüze taşıyan Uçan Süpürge ekibine, değerli konuşmacılarımıza ve katılan tüm öğrencilerimize teşekkür ederiz.

SCREENING & TALK ✨
Our Ark: Cinema in the Age of Simulation

We are excited to announce a screening followed by a conversation with the filmmaker and immersive media artist Deniz Tortum, moderated by Fulten Larlar (Bilkent COMD), on Tuesday, April 21th, 2026, at 16:30 in FB 309.

Bio:

Deniz Tortum works in film and immersive media. Among his recent work, his feature documentary Phases of Matter (2020, IFFR), recipient of the Best Documentary awards at Istanbul and Antalya Film Festivals, explores a state-run teaching hospital in Istanbul; his essay video Our Ark (2021, IDFA, co-dir Sister Sylvester), recipient of Best Short Film award at Istanbul Film Festival, reflects on our efforts to create a virtual replica of the real world, a digital Noah’s Ark; and his virtual reality work Shadowtime (2023, Venice Film Festival, co-dir Sister Sylvester) explores the history of virtual reality and its relation to the climate crisis.

Between 2014 and 2020, he worked as a researcher at the MIT Open Documentary Lab and MIT Transmedia Storytelling Initiative. In 2019, he was featured as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film by Filmmaker Magazine. His work has screened internationally, including at the Venice Film Festival, IFFR, IDFA, SXSW, the Museum of the Moving Image among others. He is currently writing a column on the futures of cinema at the Filmmaker Magazine; leading a research project with Salt Istanbul about the 60s independent Turkish film scene; and developing Intrusions, a film around spiritism and climate anxiety.

*GE 250-251 (10 points)

Publication Alert 🚨

Our faculty member Assoc. Prof. Emel Özdora and MA student Cemal Ataş’s chapter, “Personalized Diplomacy in a Polarized Media Landscape:Trump and the U.S. Through Türkiye’s News Narratives,” has been accepted for publication by Routledge in the volume “Trump’s Presidency and America’s Reputation: A Global Perspective.”

✨ Spring Semester Elective Courses

Explore a wide range of COMD elective courses this spring, covering film, design, journalism, sound, games, animation, digital media, and communication.

🗓 Pre-registrations are open until January 2.
For detailed course descriptions and syllabus, please visit the comd.bilkent.edu.tr and Bilkent Course Syllabuses.

✨ Spring Semester Elective Alert

COMD 354: Game Design and Research
Instructor: Orhan Umut Gökçek

A practice-based course offered as a restricted elective for COMD students and a free elective for all Bilkent students interested in game design, game studies, and interactive media.

The course introduces games as both a cultural phenomenon and a media form, examining their historical development alongside analytical approaches to game mechanics and dynamics. Students engage with the fundamentals of game design and development through iterative design methodologies, combining critical research with hands-on experimentation.

By the end of the course, students will have developed a foundational understanding of how games are designed, analyzed, and prototyped as meaningful interactive systems.

📌 For detailed course content and assessment criteria, please see the online syllabus on the Bilkent webpage.

✨ Spring Semester Elective Alert

COMD 365: Character Animation and Sequential Storytelling
Instructor: Orhan Umut Gökçek

A practice-based studio course offered as a restricted elective for COMD students and a free elective for all Bilkent students interested in storytelling, animation, and visual narrative.

The course focuses on concept development and storytelling methods within a project-based learning environment. Students explore animation as a limitless storytelling medium, engaging with both traditional and non-traditional narrative approaches. Through hands-on projects, students develop skills in pre-production processes such as character design, storyboarding, and color scripting, and advance toward experimentation with various animation styles and techniques.

By the end of the course, students will have gained experience using both digital and manual tools to create effective sequential visual stories.

📌 For detailed course content and assessment criteria, please see the online syllabus on the Bilkent webpage.

✨ Spring Semester Elective Alert

COMD 357: Multimedia Journalism
Instructor: Müge Mengü Hale

A practice-oriented studio course offered as a restricted elective for COMD students and a free elective for all Bilkent students interested in digital journalism and multimedia storytelling.

The course introduces students to contemporary discussions in online media and emerging digital technologies, with a strong emphasis on data visualization and multimedia reporting. Through hands-on production, students actively contribute to a class website, write beat blogs, take photographs, and produce short video and audio components for journalistic reports.

By the end of the course, students will have developed practical skills in online and multimedia journalism, combining text, image, sound, and video to create compelling digital stories.

📌 For detailed course content and assessment criteria, please see the online syllabus on the Bilkent webpage.

✨ Spring Semester Elective Alert

COMD 437: Post-Production Techniques
Instructor: Melih Aydınat

A practice-oriented studio course offered as a restricted elective for COMD students and a free elective for all Bilkent students interested in film and media post-production.

The course introduces students to contemporary post-production techniques and professional workflows used in film and media production. Through hands-on studio practice, students develop skills in multi-camera editing, color grading, and color correction, while gaining an understanding of how post-production decisions shape narrative, rhythm, and visual aesthetics.

By the end of the course, students will have practical experience in managing post-production processes and producing polished audiovisual works.

📌 For detailed course content and assessment criteria, please see the online syllabus on the Bilkent webpage.

Virtual Production Workshop by Emre Şan
COMD + KULE XR present an immersive, hands-on introduction to virtual production technologies.

📍 Dec 04, 11, 18 — FFB-11
🎥 Open to all COMD students.

For more information and registration: [email protected]