Pinar Toprak: The first woman ever to score a Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film

Ever since her childhood in Turkey in the mid- ‘90s, Toprak dreamed of one day getting to compose for the big screen.

She started playing the violin at five at a conservatory in Istanbul and studied music full-time through grade school, eventually making her way to America for college at 17. It was not easy for Pinar. When she first moved to America, she didn’t know any English. But with hard work, she first studied jazz in Chicago, then learned to score films at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.

In 2000 she moved to Los Angeles and earned a master’s degree in classical composition at Cal State Northridge and started to work for legendary composer Hans Zimmer. Since then, it’s been a gradual rise for Pinar, finding work on TV shows, video games, documentaries and superhero movies, such as Justice League, in 2017. She also worked on the highly popular online game Fortnite and, the Syfy series Krypton.

In 2019 she became the first woman ever to score a Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film Captain Marvel. For her audition, she composed seven minutes of music and hired a 70-piece orchestra in L.A. to perform it. Then she created a short video of herself in her studio explaining her ideas.

As she explained to Vulture “I made my intentions clear, and when the opportunity to demo came, I wanted to make sure that I made the best impression. I went and hired a 70-piece orchestra and did a big production of it so that they could see me in front of the orchestra conducting, and I did another video inside my studio where I talked about the character and the theme. I really wanted to put my best foot forward, and I’m very grateful it worked out.”

After Captain Marvel, Toprak scored a Pixar short Purl and also worked on the second season of Krypton. She was also involved in the TV series Stargirl and the upcoming romantic adventure comedy film The Lost City. The film stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum with Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, and Brad Pitt in supporting roles.

Deniz Gamze Erguven is a Turkish-French filmmaker whose debut film Mustang was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Non-English Language Film.

Ergüven was born in Ankara, Turkey. When she was six months old, they moved to France and stayed there for nine years. After Paris, the family moved back to Turkey. A few years later, Deniz, her sister and mother moved back to France. Then, her mother moved back to Istanbul again, but this time Gamze and her sister stayed in France. While attending the famed La Fémis film school in Paris she split her time between Turkey and France.

During her time at La Fémis, Ergüven wrote and directed a number of short films, including A Drop of Water and Mon trajet préféré. Her childhood dream was to direct feature films, but she had trouble finding financing for her projects.

In 2011 while attending a Cannes Film Festival workshop, Ergüven met the director, Alice Winocour. The two women agreed to collaborate on a screenplay together. The screenplay became 2015’s Mustang, which Winocour co-wrote and Ergüven directed.

Erguven’s debut film Mustang was nominated for Best Foreign Language film at the 2015 Oscars and Best Non-English Language Film at the Golden Globes. It was also the winner of four César awards in France. The accomplishment was remarkable for a young Turkish-born woman.

 “At the base of the project (Mustang) were deep movements of tectonic plates, moving toward the subject of what it is to be a woman, and what it is to be a woman in Turkey specifically. I grew up between France and Turkey. There was something that was very specific to Turkey, a filter of sexualization through which women were perceived. It starts at a very early age,” Erguven told Vogue.

Since then, her career has continued to grow. Erguven directed Kings (2017) starring Halle Berry and Daniel Craig, The First (2 episodes), The Handsmaid’s Tale (2 episodes) and Perry Mason (3 episodes).

Zeynep Atakan -Palme d’Or Winning Producer

Born in İstanbul, Zeynep Atakan graduated from the Department of Film and Television at the Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University. She worked in various roles in the television advertising industry, specializing in producing.

Her producing credits include the award-winning Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011), Three Monkeys (2008) and Climates (2002), The Wild Pear Tree (2018) all directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Winter Sleep (2014) on which she served as a producer won the Palme d’Or at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

When asked for what advice she would give to young producers Zeynep said to ewawomen.com “Learn new methods of production, attend festivals and network, keep on learning constantly. Be brave and get films done, starting by short films and then, feature films.”

Zeynep is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science (AMPAS), European Film Academy and the Asia Pacific Screen Academy.