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Abdullah Rıdvan Can

Abdullah Rıdvan Can is a filmmaker, writer and producer from Adana, Turkey, now based in Texas. He studied Cinema & Television at Dokuz Eylül University's Faculty of Fine Arts, graduating in 2013, and went on to graduate studies in Film Design. From 2013 to 2016 he taught film aesthetics and cinematic principles at Gediz University.

His short films look at the big struggles of ordinary people. Tractor / Traktör (2017) was a finalist at the 54th International Antalya Film Festival and in the fiction category of the 17th International Kısa-ca Film Festival. It also had a special screening in the "Migration Films Migrate" program of the 7th International Kısakes Short Film Festival and screened at the 18th International İzmir Short Film Festival. It was presented in the Shorts From Turkey markets at Israel's Arava Film Festival and at the 40th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival.

He wrote, edited and directed Oralet (2018). The film was a finalist in the Sabancı Foundation's 2nd "Child Worker" Short Film Competition and was also selected for Shorts From Turkey at the 40th Clermont-Ferrand festival. A Journey Nowhere / Hiçbir Yere Yolculuk (2019) was a finalist in the Trieste International ShorTS Film Festival Pitching Training and on the Armenia–Turkey Cinema Platform pitching platform at the 15th Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival.

The Rabbit / Tavşan (2019) won second prize at the 16th Future of Cinema short film project competition. The competition is run by the TÜRSAK Foundation in coordination with the General Directorate of Cinema of Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The film was selected for the 20th İzmir Short Film Festival (National Panorama), the 9th Crime and Punishment Film Festival, the Russia–Turkey short film selection of the 22nd Randevu İstanbul International Film Festival, and the Okan University Short Film Festival. In 2020 it screened in the Perspective section of the 16th Akbank Short Film Festival.

He is now expanding The Rabbit into a feature centred on its protagonist, Zeynep. The project won the Project Support Award at the İzmir First Film Development Camp and received the Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Screenplay and Dialogue Writing Support in 2023. It was also a finalist at the M2Film Lab development workshop that year. He is also the creator and writer of OSCAR, an eight-episode comedy series about a former director working at a Turkish catering company in New Jersey while he waits for his green card interview.

Alongside his films, he has spent more than ten years running productions. In 2015 he founded ARC Film Production, the production arm of Smart Advertising Agency in Turkey. There he produced high-budget commercials for Sınav Educational Institutions, one of the country's best-known private school chains, and led the production of more than 8,000 online course videos. He also directed the studio pilot of the entertainment program Durma Düşersin in Istanbul.

In 2023 he founded ARC Lab Creative Studio in Dallas. Through Banah Creative, he supported the marketing team of WFAA, North Texas's leading television station, filmed behind the scenes of the Dallas Mavericks' 2024 NBA Finals run, and was part of the crew on a documentary about Opal Lee, the "Grandmother of Juneteenth." He has also shot campaigns for brands such as 7-Eleven. As a cinematographer, editor, colorist and licensed drone pilot, he brings the same care to every frame, whether it is for a festival screen or a national brand.