Emin Alper was born in 1974 in Ermenek, Karaman, Turkey. Trained in economics and history at Bogazici University-Istanbul, Alper holds a PhD in Turkish Modern History. His first feature-length film, Beyond the Hill (2012), won the Caligari Film Prize from the Forum section of the Berlin International Film Festival and was named Best Film by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, among other accolades. Alper went on to make Frenzy (2015), which won the Jury Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and the multi-award-winning A Tale of Three Sisters (2019), which premiered in competition at the Berlinale. Alper is the artistic programmer of the recently founded Istanbul Cinematheque.