Mustafa Kaymak

Mustafa Kaymak is the co-CEO of Cinegryphon Entertainment, an American independent entertainment company specializing in film and television development, production and financing. He is a Sundance (Green-2019) and Tribeca (Leylak-2021) award winning writer and producer. [3] [4] He was born in Ankara Turkey, where he received a BA degree in journalism (2008 Ankara University). He holds two MFA degrees, one in Playwriting and another in Creative Film Producing, both from Columbia University. Recently he was awarded the Caucus Foundation & Annenberg Foundation Award.

Mustafa Kaymak is a Turkish playwright and film producer of Kurdish origin, based in the United States. He was born in Ankara, Turkey on July 24, 1984. After graduating from Ankara University’s Communication Faculty with a Journalism Degree 2008, Kaymak immigrated to Alaska and began studying English. While at Prince William Sound Community College, in beautiful Valdez AK, he fell in love with theater and decided to pursue a master's degree. [5] In 2011, Kaymak moved to New York City to begin his MFA in Playwriting at Columbia University.

Upon finishing his degree, he began his second MFA in Creative Film Producing, also at Columbia. Kaymak’s thesis film "Green" won the Short Film Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival 2019. [6] [7] [8] Much of Mustafa's inspiration comes from spending every summer in the small village of Altilar, Konya. It was settled by his ancestors and Mustafa spent many happy hours playing with his extensive extended family in the orchard and garden. He tended sheep with the shepherds and helped on his grandpa's farm harvesting cumin. He loved the Anatolian sheep dogs, of which the village had many. His father suffered from MS and died when Mustafa was nine years old. His mother, Zeliha Kaymak, continued to raise him and his four older siblings in Ankara, where they spent the winters.