ILAYDA CETINKAYA

Ilayda is a Turkish producer, writer, and festival programmer based in Los Angeles.

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Her solo-produced 35mm short film SKIN won the Gold Medal at the 2023 Student Academy Awards, screened at over 60 festivals worldwide, and earned her Best Producer honors at the 2024 Reale Film Festival and the 2023 LA Cinematography Awards, qualifying for the 2024 Academy Awards in Best Live Action Short Film. She was selected as a finalist for the Sundance Producing Lab.

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Her short Re-Entry received the Alfred P. Sloan Production Grant and won the SCAD International Film Fest Amazon MGM Audience Award in 2024. She served as associate producer on the TV pilot One for the Team, directed by Emmy-nominated Rain Valdez, and line produced Lionsgate's first horror vertical feature, set for dual release.

 

Her short Corpse Fishing, backed by Lena Waithe's Hillman Grad, premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival and qualified for the 2025 Academy Awards in Best Live Action Short Film. She recently wrapped the sci-fi short The Day Before with writer/director Alexandra Grey and producer Zackary Drucker, starring Matthew Law and Jamie Clayton, with Lilly Wachowski as EP.

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She is currently packaging three feature films: OMA, a psychological thriller fiscally sponsored by Film Independent and selected for SEEFest 2025's Accelerator; When Jupiter Returns by Rain Valdez with EP Lilly Wachowski; and PACE with writer/producer Beck Williams and director Leo Behrens.

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As Programmer and Jury Member at the Asian World Film Festival and Director of Programming at SEEFest, she shapes the independent film ecosystem. She earned her BFA in Film Production from Chapman University and MFA from AFI Conservatory's Producing Fellowship, and moved to the U.S. from Istanbul in 2014.