Çiğdem Mater Utku is a Turkish film producer and journalist. Since 2010 she produces documentaries and feature films. She was the associate producer of Çoğunluk/ Majority, co-producer for Sivas and for Layer. She is the producer of The Last Step, Crooked House and Heart of a Woman. Mater also works as line producer for the international projects that being shot in Turkey like Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow Eric Baudlaire’s AKA and Muhammed Ben Attia’s Weldi. She has been working as a consultant at Anadolu Kültür since 2009. She is the founding coordinator for Armenia Turkey Cinema Platform which aims to support co-production between Turkey and Armenia where there is no diplomatic relations. The platform has supported 23 shorts and documentaries since 2009.
Human rights defenders (HRDs) in Turkey have been subjected to judicial harassment, including criminal prosecution, violent attacks, threats, surveillance, prolonged arbitrary detention, and ill-treatment. In the aftermath of an attempted coup in July 2016, the environment for the work of HRDs deteriorated even further.
