Short version
Yavuz Selim Isler (me) is a Dutch-Turkish cinematographer based in the Netherlands. I have worked across a diverse range of short films, documentaries, television and feature films, and I really enjoy working internationally. My projects have taken me to New York, Dallas, Dubai, Kenya, Greece, Turkey and the Netherlands.

Long version
It’s quite funny to explain how I started. Without making it too cliché, I was once an 8-year-old boy obsessed with making stop-motion videos with my LEGO toys. I’ve always been a creative spiri, I drew a lot but making videos fascinated me the most.

When I was 14, I was tired of being an amateur, so I knocked on the door of the local TV station and asked if I could work there as a cameraman and editor. They said yes, and I ended up doing that for about five years.

I then went to the Graphic Lyceum in Rotterdam to take my first steps into film. My teacher, Peterjan van der Burgh, taught me the art of cinematography, while Robert M. Berger helped me gain more experience on set. Together with my friend Bob Lemm, I graduated in 2017 with the short documentary Boxer, one of the first films I was truly proud of.

That same summer, I shot my first feature film, Stille Storm, directed by Guido Coppis. After that, I was admitted to the Netherlands Film Academy to study cinematography.

During my studies, I did some really cool stuff, like shooting on 16mm film for Mehmet & Tim and Als Er Gedanst Is. I also met director Shriejan Paudel. We became good friends and went on to shoot the thriller Para in 2020, the socially and politically charged film Viral in 2021, and the thriller On My Way in 2023, which explores social anxiety.

After graduating, I worked with director Ali Asgari on About Me and The Wind Between Us, which travelled to international film festivals across Europe, Asia and the United States, I also worked with Ramazan Kilic on Zarif Agri.

From 2023 onwards, I began focusing more on bigger projects. One of the first professional feature films was Twisted Hearts, directed by Michael A. Pinckney and shot in Dallas, Texas. I then shot the psychological thriller Don’t Answer in 2025 for director Reggie Reg Henderson also in Dallas, Texas, followed by the Greek mythology-inspired adventure fantasy film Chronos in 2026, directed by Gianinni Semedo Moreira and shot in Greece.

Aside from feature films, I worked in the rural areas of Kenya on a short film and documentary about FGM, and a pilot for a TV-series about a female firefighter fighting against more than fire.

Back in the Netherlands, I also worked with Gianinni on the Dutch TV series De Hopi Snelle Show for actor Jandino Asporaat and AVROTROS/Zapp.

Alongside my work as a cinematographer, I also work as a camera operator. I operated the Netflix original series Dirty Lines for DP Mick van Rossum, as well as the TV movie De Sterfshow for DP Joris Bulstra.

After all, I don’t really like minimalist cinema. I feel that, as a cinematographer, my job is to steer the audience in a certain direction and to use the tools of cinematography to do that. I don’t want to hide those tools from the audience—it feels a little sad to me, lol.

If you think the same way, let’s have a hot chocolate! (I don’t really like coffee.)