Handan İpekçi was born in Ankara in 1956 and graduated from the Gazi Uni­versity College of Media Studies. She made her debut as a film director in 1993 with the documentary Song of the Kemenche. A year later in 1994, she shot her first feature My Father’s in the Army, a reflection on the 1980 military coup through the eyes of children. Her second feature Hejar followed in 2001 and went on to win best film and best script awards in Antalya.