Kıvılcım Akay is a Malta-based filmmaker, writer, and culinary researcher from Turkey.

She has been working in documentary cinema for many years, developing a practice she describes as a bridge that brings people and cultures closer, challenging distances often perceived as unbridgeable.

Through her films and writings, she creates spaces for reflection by engaging with what is often visible yet difficult to confront, reinterpreting reality in ways that invite both viewers and readers to think and feel. Her work explores themes such as belonging, memory, migration, gender equality, and sustainability, shaping empathy through the idea that what can be understood can also be felt.

In recent years, her research on culinary culture—through archival work, interviews, and field studies—has expanded into regularly published auto-ethnographic essays across various platforms. She approaches the kitchen not merely as a place for cooking and eating, but as a space of thought and philosophy, inviting readers to reconsider the boundaries of their own worlds.

Working across film, literature, and food as narrative tools, Akay adopts an interdisciplinary approach, navigating reality through images, tastes, smells, and text in a fluid and interconnected way.

She develops projects both independently and in collaboration with international partners.

Her films and artistic projects have been presented at numerous international festivals, museums, film industry platforms, and broadcast networks. She has also served as a jury member at film festivals and as a mentor in co-production platforms, supporting emerging filmmakers.

Here are some of them: 

Film Industry: Cannes Producers Network, Berlinale Co-Production Market, DocsBarcelona, Meeting on The Bridge, Antalya Film Forum, !F Doc Lab, Gaif Pro, Zagreb Dox, Campus Istanbul, Eurasia Film Market, Eurasia Doc

TV / VOD: PBS (USA), Canal+ (France), BluTV HBO (Turkey), Mubi (Turkey), WaterBear (USA), TRT (Turkish Radio and Television Corporation), Turkish Airlines

Exhibitions / Art Projects: Sharjah Art Foundation, Istanbul Modern Cinema, Pera Museum, Antalya Culture&Art, Mamut Art, OMM, Baksı Museum

Film Festivals: IDFA, Atlanta Film Festival, Chiayi City Art Documentary FF, IAWRT Asian Womens FF, Goree FF, Humans FF, DocuScape, Istanbul Film Festival, Antalya Golden Orange, BII Bienniale, Zagreb Intolerance FF, Duhok FF