He was born in Isparta, Turkey, in 1964. After finishing junior high school, he moved to Istanbul. He started senior high school, but dropped out after his first semester, going to work in factories and workshops instead. Following the 1980 military coup, he served a three-year sentence for his membership in a political organization. In order to postpone his military service, he decided to go back to school. He finished high school through distance learning and entered the Department of Communications at Istanbul University. He began his film career as assistant director to Zeki Okten in 1986, and worked as AD for various directors until he made Block C (1994), his first feature film. Since then, he has continued to work as an independent filmmaker, writing his own original screenplays and drawing inspiration from classics of world literature. Film critics and international audiences noticed Demirkubuz for his second film, Innocence (1997) which was screened at the Venice FF and The Third Page (1999), which screened at several festivals in Turkey and Europe, including Locarno and Rotterdam. He recently completed his latest feature film, Ember (2016).
Filmography
1994 Block C
1997 Innocence
1999 The Third Page
2001 Confession
2001 Fate
2003 The Waiting Room
2006 Destiny
2009 Envy
2012 Inside
2015 Nausea
2016 Ember
